Jumia Rwanda is suspending its Food delivery service in the country after six years of operations. The new development makes Rwanda the third country in Africa that the platform is leaving in just a span of a month.
It comes after the e-commerce site closed shop in Tanzania, days after doing the same for Cameroon. All cases have been attributed to the rise in cost of operations amidst registration of losses in these markets.
It has been reported that the company has been struggling with profitability in various markets where it is operating, which informed the decision to suspend some operations.
According to a notice sent out by Jumia Rwanda to its customers, Jumia will no longer be able to accept cash on delivery and can only process pre-paid orders, with effect from December 9th, 2019.
“We regret to inform you that Jumia will suspend our on-demand delivery operations in Rwanda on January 9th 2020. 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 company, however, says that it will continue to support buyers and vendors to do business online on its “classifieds portal, previously called Jumia Deals and which will now be the main portal jumia.rw.”
In neighbouring Kenya, the company reportedly laid off at least 30 of its employees. According to Gadgets Africa, the staff lay off is exactly in line with the company’s stakeholder’s decision to cut down on the costs of operation.
Jumia’s third quarter report indicated nothing near profitability despite making a revenue of $44.2 million and increasing the number of users. The loss stood at $55 million, which is higher than the $45 million it recorded in the same quarter in 2018.
It is apparent that Jumia seems committed to cutting down on its running costs and it is likely that the downsizing will affect a few other markets. The company is now only operational in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, and Algeria.
