There are two options: rise to the mountaintop or fade into the valley. That is how the stock of Jumia will be as it reports quarterly earnings tomorrow in New York. I will be looking for three things: revenue growth, path to profitability and containment of burn rate. If Jumia delivers on those, the alpha moment will come. But if it fails, it would be ugly.
I hope it delivers because Jumia has added a GREAT mission on its double play strategy: open the logistics infrastructure to 3rd party players: “Put together, Jumia’s logistics arm has been exclusively available to vendors on its marketplace—until now. The company is opening up its logistics services to third party users across 11 countries in Africa”. The implication is huge: Jumia wants to carry other ecommerce companies on its back, for profit, of course. Do not take that playbook for granted because if the friction of logistics is eliminated, for some small ecommerce operators, they will scale.
After eight years of iteration, Jumia’s delivery arm now consists of a network of over 300 courier partners and proprietary technology for tracking optimal delivery routes, inventory, and payments. It also includes over 110,000 sq. meters of warehouse space across the continent as well as a vast network of drop-off and pick-up stations that offer the company a wider offline presence. Fifteen months ago, Jumia partnered with Vivo Energy (owner of Engen and Shell-branded petrol stations across Africa) to set up pick-up stations at Vivo’s over 2,000 fuel station outlets.
Put together, Jumia’s logistics arm has been exclusively available to vendors on its marketplace—until now. The company is opening up its logistics services to third party users across 11 countries in Africa.
It’s a move that sees Jumia instantly become one of the biggest players in e-commerce logistics space across the continent. The company is also likely betting on quickly gaining traction by winning potential customers through its years of experience in logistics, from product handling to last mile delivery.
Logistics, adding gaming in JumiaPay, and JumiaPay itself, are components of the puzzle Jumia is working on as it looks for a path to sustained profitability. Tomorrow will determine how far it is on that trajectory.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.
Jumia’s success or failure will ultimately be judged by its ecommerce exploits, just like Amazon, what brings the profits is immaterial; as long as you excel in the core mission: ecommerce.
Amazon can make tons of money from AWS or advertising, but it is its peerless execution on ecommerce front that defines what it truly is; Jumia should never lose sight of that.
The guys at Wall Street might be interested in other numbers, because for them, it’s all about financial numbers; but the guys in the Main Streets of Africa want to see peerless execution from Jumia, if it excels there, glory will come, and folks at Wall Street will applaud.