Jumia was founded in Nigeria in 2012 and successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2019. It is currently the largest full-category e-commerce platform in Africa. The platform has a variety of product types, selling shoes and clothing, electronic products, cosmetics, mobile phones and other categories. Its business covers 14 countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, etc. It is the platform with the widest coverage of e-commerce in Africa.
Most countries in Africa are poverty-stricken areas, and payment and logistics are great challenges. Jumia has to find ways to solve these difficulties when conducting e-commerce business in many African countries. The platform’s self-built logistics service system Jumia Logistics and self-built payment system Jumia Pay are “tailored to the needs” and have achieved remarkable results. Therefore, in general, Jumia has almost become the preferred platform for African consumers.
Jumia is called the African version of “Alibaba”. It has a similar operating model to Alibaba. For example, it also has Jumia Travel, a hotel booking platform, Jumia Food, a food delivery platform, JumiaPay, and even classified ads, online travel, and commercial loan services, gradually building a large “business empire” in Africa. It can be said that Jumia is the well-deserved “leader” in the African e-commerce market.