The company also trimmed its after-tax loss by 28% to $16.3 million, compared to $22.5 million in the same period last year.

According to the statement, Jumia’s operating loss fell to $16.5 million from $20.2 million, while loss before income tax also declined by 28% to $16.5 million.

Gross profit rose 11% year-on-year to $23.9 million, from $21.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA loss dropped by 17% to $13.6 million, from $16.3 million in Q2 2024.

However, net cash used in operating activities increased to $12.7 million, up from $8.4 million in the same quarter last year.

Key performance indicators for Jumia’s physical goods business showed strong improvements. Orders rose by 18% year-on-year, driven by better product assortment across major categories. 

Quarterly active customers grew by 13%, signalling improved customer retention. In Nigeria, orders increased by 25%, while Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) surged 36% year-on-year.

Commenting on the results, Francis Dufay, CEO of Jumia Group, said:

“Our second-quarter results demonstrate continued momentum in our core consumer business, with robust usage growth and strong engagement across markets. We believe year-over-year trends are reflecting the underlying strength of our platform. We also delivered a meaningful improvement in cash burn quarter-over-quarter, driven by growth and a positive impact from working capital.

“This reinforces our confidence in reaching our strategic goal to break even on a loss-before-income-tax basis in the fourth quarter of 2026 and achieving full-year profitability in 2027. Based on current trends, we are raising our full-year 2025 guidance and long-term profitability targets.”

Fulfilment expenses increased by 16% to $10.8 million from $9.3 million, while sales and advertising expenses declined by 6% to $4.2 million. Technology and content expenses edged up to $9.2 million from $8.7 million year-on-year.

Although Jumia previously operated at a loss year after year, the company is showing consistent progress towards profitability. The Q2 2025 loss of $16.3 million marks a significant improvement, aligning with its roadmap to achieve profitability by 2027.

Nevertheless, the eCommerce giant’s cash reserves rose by 78% to $164.6 million, bolstered by a capital raise that supports growth initiatives despite economic challenges and withdrawals from select markets.

Key Financial Highlights for Jumia Third Quarter Results

Revenue and Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV): Jumia’s Q3 revenue of $36.4 million is a 13% decline from the previous year, though in constant currency terms, revenue actually rose by 9%. 

Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) similarly dipped by 1% year-over-year to $162.9 million, with a 29% increase in constant currency. These figures stress the impact of currency devaluations, notably in Nigeria and Egypt, which continue to challenge the company’s top-line growth.

Operating Loss and Adjusted EBITDA: The operating loss widened by 10% year-over-year to $20.1 million, while the Adjusted EBITDA loss grew by 15% to $17 million. 

The increase is attributed to higher costs associated with operational adjustments, including warehouse consolidations aimed at future cost savings. In constant currency, the operating loss rose by 6%, and the Adjusted EBITDA loss by 10%.

Liquidity Surge: Jumia’s liquidity position surged to $164.6 million in Q3, a good increase from Q2’s $8.7 million decrease, bolstered by net proceeds of $94.7 million from an August 2024 At-the-Market (ATM) offering. 

This capital raise was essential in strengthening Jumia’s cash reserves and is earmarked to support growth initiatives and operational improvements.

Expense Control: Fulfillment expenses rose to $10.3 million, a 5% increase year-over-year, due in part to one-time costs linked to warehouse consolidation. 

Despite this, Jumia achieved flat year-over-year fulfilment costs per order at $2.40, a notable efficiency metric amidst the changes. 

Meanwhile, general and administrative expenses (excluding share-based compensation) were up 14% to $17.6 million, reflecting costs that include the non-recurrence of a $6 million provision benefit seen in Q3 2023.

Cash Flow and Net Operating Activities: Jumia used $26.8 million in operating cash flow for Q3, up from $24 million in Q3 2023, due to factors such as a negative working capital impact from third-party sales cycles and a one-time $1.8 million provision settlement. 

The company’s disciplined cash management remains a priority, evidenced by initiatives to simplify warehouse operations and invest in technology upgrades to enhance platform quality.

CEO Francis Dufay commented on the company’s strength, business fundamentals and market resilience even with macroeconomic pressures. 

“In the third quarter, we continued to strengthen the underlying fundamentals of the business. We saw growth in both Quarterly Active Customers, up 1% year-over-year, and Orders, up 4% over the prior year, as we continue to focus on diversifying our supply and strengthening the Jumia value proposition. We are encouraged to see continued resilience in our usage and business fundamentals despite the significant first quarter currency depreciation headwinds in Nigeria and Egypt that continue to impact reported GMV and topline revenue.

We undertook several major operational steps in the quarter, including improvements to our logistics network and the consolidation of our warehouse footprint to enable greater efficiencies and increase supply capacity. While these changes negatively impacted operations and expenses in the third quarter, we believe that these efforts position us well to scale and drive profitable growth as we expand our footprint beyond the major cities (“upcountry”).

We also recently decided to cease operations in South Africa and Tunisia in order to better allocate our resources to markets with stronger growth potential. While these updates will have a near-term impact on our operations and financial performance, we believe that our efforts position the business well to scale on our path to profitability.

As we move forward, we are committed to taking a disciplined approach to managing our operations. The proceeds of our recent capital raise will help to accelerate our growth trajectory. However, we are committed to accelerating our strategy in a disciplined manner that avoids excess spending and will position the business for profitable growth over the long term,” Dufay said. 

The company’s recent decisions to exit South Africa and Tunisia are strategic moves aimed at concentrating resources on higher-growth markets. 

This approach is Jumia’s focus on scaling its operations profitably as it expands its footprint beyond urban centres.

With its bolstered liquidity, Jumia is thriving to improve operational efficiency and drive long-term growth. 

The company will now concentrate its resources on markets with richer growth prospects including Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and Morocco among others. 

This comes after an internal review of the company’s performance in these regions. Jumia reported that South Africa and Tunisia together contributed only 3.5% of total orders and 4.5% of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) for the year ending December 2023. 

The situation remained similar in the first half of 2024, with the two countries accounting for just 2.7% of orders and 3% of GMV. These figures reveal their minimal impact on Jumia’s overall business and underline the rationale for the exits.

Jumia’s Chief Executive Officer, Francis Dufay, stated that the company intends to focus on markets that offer greater opportunities for growth and profitability. “Both South Africa and Tunisia have faced challenging competitive and economic environments that have constrained our ability to scale in these regions,” Dufay explained. 

The decision to pull out of these countries, according to him, will enable Jumia to reallocate resources to markets with better potential for sustainable growth.

While the closures will affect approximately 110 jobs, some employees may be reassigned within the company. 

The company’s decision aligns with its goals to make operations more efficient and effective.

In recent years, Jumia has implemented several cost-cutting measures, including workforce reductions and the discontinuation of unprofitable ventures like Jumia Food. 

The e-commerce platform’s leadership believes that by concentrating on its remaining nine markets, it can enhance its overall efficiency and accelerate growth.

Jumia’s exit also shows the high competition in South Africa, where fast-fashion retailers like Shein and Temu have gained ground. Again, recent trends suggest that online fashion retail, particularly in South Africa, has become more difficult to sustain due to intense competition.

The company’s leadership believes this development will place Jumia on a stronger path toward profitability. With the shutdown expected to be finalised by year-end, Jumia plans to kickstart its refocus on regions with higher growth potential by then.

The company continues to observe promising trends in its core markets and aims to capitalise on improved economies of scale and operational efficiencies.

With that record, Jumia has continues its journey towards financial resilience and sustained growth, reporting its lowest since its IPO in 2019.

The company’s relentless focus on strategic growth initiatives has yielded promising results, evident in the Q3 2023 earnings report.

Under the stewardship of Group CEO Francis Dufay, Jumia’s commitment to a transformative blueprint initiated in Q4 2022 has proven pivotal. Notably, the quarter showcased substantial advancements across key metrics.

Reduced Losses and Enhanced Value Proposition:

The resolute focus on core categories—Phones, Electronics, Home & Living, Fashion, and Beauty—has yielded tangible improvements. Jumia’s emphasis on tailoring offerings to meet customer needs in these key markets has notably enhanced repurchase rates among new customers.

Additionally, there’s a discernible uptick in the average order value (AOV) for physical goods, signaling an evolving customer engagement strategy that resonates with the market’s demands.

This strategic pivot, evident in the considerable 74% year-over-year reduction in Sales and Advertising expenses, amounting to $4.3 million, aligns with the company’s pursuit of creating a stronger value proposition.

Furthermore, the 67% year-over-year decrease in Adjusted EBITDA loss, reaching $14.9 million, stands as a testament to Jumia’s concerted efforts toward profitability.

GMV Growth and Core Business Focus:

The most significant highlight of Q3 2023, according to CEO Francis Dufay, is the encouraging growth in GMV of physical goods across five countries. This growth reflects a pivot towards more efficient economics and sustained growth, aligning with Jumia’s core business strategy.

Strategic Partnerships:

Dufay’s emphasis on partnerships, notably with Starlink, highlights Jumia’s intent to diversify its product range and supply offerings.

The collaboration aims to enhance Jumia’s assortment, catering to evolving consumer demands.

The imminent distribution of Starlink’s residential kits in Nigeria signifies a promising partnership that could shape Jumia’s future offerings and market positioning across Africa.

Operational Efficiency and Upcountry Expansion:

Jumia’s relentless pursuit of operational efficiency has been underscored by a remarkable achievement—a Fulfillment expense per order reaching $2.1, marking a significant 26% year-over-year reduction.

Notably, these efficiencies have been realized concurrently with the company’s strategic expansion into secondary cities across Africa, emphasizing the commitment to reach underserved regions.

Streamlined Operations and Fiscal Discipline:

The company’s steadfast commitment to operational streamlining and fiscal prudence has resulted in a leaner organizational structure.

A 43% year-over-year decrease in G&A expenditures, excluding SBC, totaling $15.9 million, is indicative of this leaner operational paradigm—a result of rightsizing efforts earlier in the year.

Jumia’s liquidity position, at $147.4 million, demonstrates effective cash management with a noteworthy decrease of $19.0 million, down by 71% year-over-year.

This disciplined approach underscores the company’s concerted focus on judicious resource allocation and financial stewardship.

Jumia ‘s Q3 2023 performance not only indicates improved financials but also reaffirms its commitment to sustainable growth strategies.

The company’s continued focus on core categories and operational efficiency positions it favorably for long-term success in the dynamic e-commerce landscape.

Jumia affirms it has taken this step to minimize costs and losses in line with streamlining its organizational structure and creating a more effective and highly committed team focused on set goals.

The e-commerce platform also did a headcount reduction in its Dubai office, affecting 60% of employees in managerial roles, while others are being posted to its African offices.

Report states that Jumia expects these headcount reductions will allow it save over 30% in monthly staff costs starting from March 2023, as compared to the October 2022 staff cost baseline.  

“The implementation of these organizational changes resulted in $3.7 million in one-off restructuring costs booked in the fourth quarter of 2022.”

Jumia has also significantly reduced its Sales & Advertising expense which decreased by 41% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2022.

According to the company, “As part of that, we are working on optimizing the returns on our paid online marketing investments by rationalizing marketing channels. We are also allocating a higher share of investment to local offline channels that help us cost-effectively build brand awareness and consideration. 

“We are also working on a comprehensive plan to drive fulfilment cost efficiencies. This includes several actions such as optimizing our footprint and logistics routes, improving warehousing staff management and productivity, reducing packaging costs, and many more. We have seen early signs of success of this strategy in our e-commerce physical goods business where the freight & shipping cost per package decreased by 23% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2022,” the company stated.

Francis Dufay, Jumia CEO said the company started implementing its strategy to accelerate its path to profitability and further strengthen fundamentals in the fourth quarter of 2022. “While the fourth quarter results only reflect a fraction of the actions we are taking, we are seeing early signs of success and remain focused on execution. In light of these encouraging signs, we expect a sharp reduction in Adjusted EBITDA loss from $207 million in FY2022 down to $100-120 million in FY2023. 

“We remain more than ever confident about the growth opportunity across our markets and are making fundamental improvements to our consumer value proposition which will help us drive sustainable long-term growth.”

Jumia Prime will be discontinued across all its markets. The company will also suspend its logistics-as-a-service in all markets except Nigeria, Morocco and Ivory Coast. Then, it will scale back first-party groceries in Algeria, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia. It will also discontinue food delivery operations in Egypt, Ghana and Senegal. The company stated these activities accounted for less than 1% of group GMV in the first nine months of 2022 and 2% of group adjusted EBITDA loss. 

The Supervisory Board has appointed Francis Dufay and Antoine Maillet-Mezeray as members of the Company’s Management Board.

Francis Dufay, now Acting CEO, has been with the Company since 2014 and has held multiple senior leadership roles, including CEO of Ivory Coast and recently EVP Africa with responsibility for the group’s e-commerce business across Africa. 

Francis has a track record of successfully scaling e-commerce operations in Africa with a strong focus on profitability. Based in Ivory Coast since 2014 and an Ivorian national, Francis brings a deep understanding of our business and the markets that we operate in.

Antoine Maillet-Mezeray previously Group Chief Financial Officer, has been elevated to Executive Vice President, Finance & Operations. Antoine has been with Jumia for over six years and has played an instrumental role in driving the finance function and further developing it in a public market context.

Jonathan Klein, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said of the announcement, “We thank Jeremy and Sacha for their leadership over the last decade to envision and build a company that became the leading pan-African e-commerce player. As we look ahead to the next chapter of Jumia’s journey, we want to bring more focus to the core e-commerce business as part of a more simplified and efficient organization with stronger fundamentals and a clearer path to profitability. We look forward to working closely with Francis, Antoine and the leadership team to execute on these objectives and continue on our mission of offering a compelling e-commerce platform to consumers, sellers and the broader Jumia ecosystem in Africa.”

Francis, Antoine and the broader leadership team will work together closely to drive the Company’s strategic priorities and operations with a clear focus on:

• Building even stronger fundamentals for e-commerce businesses by refocusing teams and resources on activities and projects delivering the best added value to consumers, sellers and the broader Jumia ecosystem.
• Reducing operating losses and setting the business on a clear path to profitability, through stronger cost discipline, targeted monetization initiatives and a more simplified and efficient organization.

The Company will be making select senior management changes with a focus on locating leaders and decision centers closer to consumers and sellers in Africa. In parallel, a search for a permanent CEO is ongoing.

Francis Dufay and Antoine Maillet-Mezeray stated, “We have an outstanding platform, a strong brand and a talented team. We believe in Jumia’s relevance to African consumers and are confident in the Company’s ability to deliver strong results. We are working on a comprehensive plan to bring more focus to the business and drive sharper execution to scale the business towards profitability.”

Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec commented, “We are proud to have built Jumia, pioneering e-commerce on the continent and creating along the way a unique culture and a great platform in which millions of consumers and thousands of sellers find great value. It is time for us to pass the baton to a new team, we are excited for all that is to come for the business and look forward to cheering the Company on from a new vantage point.”

The Company will provide additional information on this announcement and business priorities as part of its Q3 earnings call scheduled for November 17, 2022.