Jumia Technologies has said it is suspending its Rwanda operations after six years of delivering food and drinks.
The New York-listed e-commerce platform made the announcement on Monday.
“We regret to inform you that Jumia will suspend our on-demand delivery operations in Rwanda on January 9th 2020. We thank you for your loyalty and continued trust over the years, it’s been our pleasure to serve you all. We will endeavor to ensure that orders received up until the 9th January will be processed to the high standard you have come to expect of us,” a Jumia statement to Rwanda clients said.
It also revealed that starting 9th December, 2019, Jumia will not accept cash on delivery and can only process pre-paid orders.
“Starting December 9th 2019 we will no longer be able to accept cash on delivery and can only process pre-paid orders. No orders will be processed after 9th January 2019 at which point all customer accounts will be closed. Jumia Prime subscribers will be contacted separately regarding their refund,” the statement adds.
Rwanda is the third country in Africa where Jumia is closing shop in the space of one month. The other countries are Cameroon and Tanzania.
Founded in 2012 in Nigeria by Frenchmen Jérémy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, Jumia currently operates across now down to 11 countries from 14 countries it had early this year.
Jumia currently has 4.8 million active customers as of the second quarter of 2019—which is an increase by 500,000 compared to the first quarter of the year. Its GMV is also up by 69% year-on-year and has increased its marketplace revenue (90%) and gross profit (94%). The company is working on a target of breaking even towards the end of 2022.
-Business daily