AFRICA – Leading e-commerce platform in Africa, Jumia has opened its logistic arm to third party businesses who wish to leverage its network, technology and expertise for last mile deliveries across 11 countries in the region.
The ecommerce company has indicated that the new offering is aimed to enable the third parties to efficiently undertake their logistics operations which is a major cost driver.
“Businesses across the countries are re-examining their costs, especially during COVID-19. For many, logistics is a major cost driver and headache to manage.
“We have the right infrastructure, people, partnerships and technology required to help third parties and partners solve logistics and marketing challenges. We believe we can provide better quality of service at lower cost,” Senior Vice President Logistics Services at Jumia, Apoorva Kumar said.
Prior to the announcement, the service was reserved for ecommerce and food vendors operating on its marketplace.
Jumia’s logistics marketplace is uniquely adapted to Africa, based on two main pillars. The first is its proprietary technology which aggregates demand and matches it with supply capacity on the basis of several parameters like quality of service, reachability of network and cost of delivery.
The second pillar is its logistics network, which includes among its physical locations over 20 warehouses north of 110 000 sqm and more than 1,300 drop-off stations and pick-up stations, located across Jumia’s 11-country market, including in remote areas.
“Our technology and last mile services have a wide coverage that enhances faster turnaround time, reliable handling of products and transparent reporting, all of which have contributed to the success of Jumia, both in urban and rural areas.
“We are proud to share this technology with a broader set of businesses and give them new opportunities to grow,” Kumar said.
In 2019, Jumia processed more than 20 million packages, thanks to the seamless integration of more than 300 logistics partners of all sizes.
In addition, partnerships with players such as Total, Vivo Energy and Posta Kenya allow for an even wider presence across the 11 countries where Jumia operates on the continent.
“We are proud to share this technology with a broader set of businesses and give them new opportunities to grow.”
Senior Vice President Logistics Services at Jumia – Apoorva Kumar
The new offer has been tested over the past few months with handpicked SMEs and large companies. The results were conclusive enough to push the e-commerce group to avail it.
“Our new partnership with Jumia forms an integral part of our strategy to grow our e-commerce sales in the next 5 years,” said Joseph Choge, CEO Premier Food Industries Ltd Kenya.
“Jumia’s unique ability to handle logistics – order management and processing, shipping and delivery and payments across the country to end users has opened for us a new way to reach our consumers in a fast efficient and effective manner more so especially during this time of COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
This move is also a boost for all Jumia Logistics local partners who will be able to drive more volume through the Jumia logistics network.
Jumia is built around a marketplace, Jumia Logistics, and JumiaPay. The marketplace helps millions of consumers and thousands of sellers to connect and transact.
Jumia Logistics enables the delivery of millions of packages through its network of local partners while JumiaPay facilitates the payments of online transactions within the Jumia’s ecosystem.
With over 1 billion people and 500 million internet users in Africa, Jumia believes that e-commerce is making people’s lives easier by helping them shop and pay for millions of products at the best prices wherever they live.
E-commerce is also creating new opportunities for SMEs to grow, and job opportunities for a new generation to thrive, forecasting about 3 million new jobs by 2025 in its latest Food Index report.
According to the report the regions food and beverage market is worth US$ 313 billion and is projected to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2030, significantly propelled by the rise of online food sales, which is expected to account 0.3% of total revenue generated by 2023.
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