Africa-focused online marketplace Jumia Technologies highlighted signs of growth acceleration during its third quarter earnings call Tuesday (Nov. 16).
In terms of headline numbers, orders for the quarter jumped 28% year over year to reach an all-time high of 8.5 million, the fastest growth rate of the past seven quarters, according to a press release.
Annual active consumers increased by 8% to reach 7.3 million, and due to the growth in consumers and orders, gross merchandise value (GMV) also grew by 8% this quarter, reaching $238 million, the release stated.
“We have this vast, untapped market opportunity both on the eCommerce and payment fronts, and in this context, we really want to establish Jumia as the go-to destination for consumers, and we want to develop JumiaPay into a payment and FinTech champion on the continent over the next few quarters,” Co-CEO Sacha Poignonnec said on the call.
See also: Jumia’s Payments Unit Now One-Third of Marketplace Revenue
The Nigeria-based firm said in the release that transactions on JumiaPay, the company’s payments unit first introduced in 2016, increased by 34% to hit 3 million in Q3, the fastest transactions growth rate of the past five quarters driven primarily by accelerating volume growth in the food delivery category.
Read also: Jumia on Africa’s Great eCommerce Shift — Toward ‘Everyday Items’
Overall, 35.7% of total orders placed on the Jumia platform in Q3 were completed using the JumiaPay app, a slight increase from 34.1% in the same quarter last year, according to the release.
The pan-African e-commerce platform has also expanded the range of digital and financial services available to consumers, and in Nigeria, customers can now book bus tickets via the JumiaPay app, while multiple new billers, including several universities, have been added to the platform in Egypt, allowing students to pay their tuition fees online via the JumiaPay app, the release stated.
See also: Price of Jumia Technologies Expected to Soar in 2021
“In the future, we intend to turn the JumiaPay checkout account into a full-fledged wallet with an extended range of [functions], including cash-in, cash out features … and more,” Jumia Co-CEO Jeremy Hodara said on the call about the feature, which currently allows consumers to link a variety of payment methods, including any corporate card, account or wallet.
On the merchant side, the JumiaPay checkout solution is being rolled out to third-party financial institutions (FIs), helping sellers to access credit by leveraging their business data on the platform, according to the release. This quarter, 489 loans were disbursed to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), more than double the number in in the same quarter last year and benefiting 354 unique sellers.
Read also: Jumia Encounters New eCommerce Rivals in Africa Amid Pandemic
Additionally, the online marketplace has partnered with Ghana-based Solar Taxi, a mobility company, to provide an affordable and eco-friendly delivery solution to its customers in the country, the release stated. The company said the partnership is part of its efforts to promote sustainable energy use.
See also: How the ‘Amazon of Africa’ Is Navigating a Pandemic-Induced Explosion in Digital Payments
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More