E-Business
Jumia Sees Growth in First Quarter 2022 Results
Jumia Technologies AG (“Jumia” or the “Company”) announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.
“We kicked off 2022 with very strong growth momentum, closing the first quarter with the highest GMV and Order growth rates of the past 9 quarters, up 27% and 40% year-over-year respectively.
“In parallel with accelerating usage growth, we continued driving platform monetization, with revenue growing by 44% year- over-year, which was also a 9-quarter high,” commented Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Jumia.
“We remain focused on taking the business forward on our path to profitability, driving faster usage growth with improved levels of marketing efficiency. Sales & Advertising expense per Order and as % of GMV decreased sequentially, both reaching their lowest levels in the past 4 quarters, at $2.0 per Order and 7.5% of GMV respectively. We are executing on our strategy with discipline and consistency. Our focus continues to be on making Jumia a compelling destination for the everyday needs of African consumers and a growth engine for sellers and businesses in Africa and beyond.”
First Quarter 2022- Business Highlights
- Growth Acceleration Initiatives
In the first quarter of 2022, we continued executing on our growth acceleration strategy building upon the momentum of the second half of 2021, continuing to scale the business towards profitability.
The key levers of our growth acceleration plan remain consistent:
Sustained marketing investments on a multi-channel basis, to drive consumer awareness, adoption and retention.
Enhanced assortment relevance with a focus on everyday product categories.
Improved pricing and shipping policy.
Improved customer experience and convenience through platform enhancements.
We have outlined below relevant developments in the first quarter of 2022 with respect to each one of these levers.
Marketing
- Brand awareness and consideration are core pillars of our marketing strategy and key to foster customer trust. We were pleased to see Jumia ranked #6 in the 2021 Most Influential Brands survey in Egypt released by Ipsos in March 2022. The ‘Most Influential Brands Survey’ is a global Ipsos initiative, covering 14 markets and close to 800 brands worldwide.
2021 was the second edition of the survey in Egypt with 118 brands assessed across 14 categories. In 2021, Jumia progressed from the 7th to the 6th position of the ranking, maintaining its leadership within the digital and e-commerce category of the survey.
Assortment, pricing and shipping
As part of our efforts to become the digital destination in Africa for everyday needs, we are expanding our assortment in the everyday categories and further enhancing our partnerships with sellers and brands.
Between December 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022, we added almost one million SKUs in the FMCG category, the highest number of SKU adds in this category in the past 8 quarters. We also established pan-African partnerships with each of Coca-Cola and Danone across both our e-commerce and food delivery platforms.
Price competitiveness is a key component of the Jumia value proposition for consumers, particularly in a more challenging macro environment that drives increased consumer price sensitivity. We are upgrading our price benchmarking tool into an automated system covering the full product assortment of Jumia, incorporating data from both online and offline channel checks.
The new system leverages machine learning algorithms to match images and product features enhancing the speed and accuracy of screening and matching. It also allows for real-time price adjustment with dedicated modules for margin optimization.
We are rolling out a free shipping program in select countries allowing consumers living in the main cities to benefit from next-day free shipping on Jumia Express items and basket sizes exceeding a minimum threshold. Jumia Express is an end-to-end logistics service provided to sellers where items are stored in our warehouse and picked and packed by Jumia.
We expect the free shipping initiative to drive consumer adoption and overall usage growth. While we will be foregoing consumer shipping fees – booked under Fulfillment revenue – we expect to better monetize the Jumia Express service – booked under Value Added Service revenue – as we expect sellers to benefit from sales uplift as a result of the free shipping roll-out.
Technology: Platform enhancements
We continue to invest in our technology backbone and front-end projects in particular, to make our platforms even more easy-to-use and engaging.
During the first quarter of 2022, we continued working on an overhaul of our homepage and product pages to simplify navigation and product discovery. Key developments included creating stronger hierarchy of content on the homepage and more informative product pages with larger pictures and additional information such as available stock quantity for flash sales and promotions.
We intend to further enhance user experience with incremental improvements to our product search algorithms and filtering modules, while increasing personalization throughout the stages of the user journey.
- JUMIA PAY UPDATE
In April 2022, JumiaPay was granted the Payment Service Solution Provider (“PSSP”) license by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which allows us to process payments on behalf of third-party businesses in Nigeria.
In parallel, we continued expanding the range of everyday digital and financial services available to consumers on the JumiaPay app.
In Nigeria, JumiaPay is working with the CGAP, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, which is a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organizations, focused on financial inclusion to improve the lives of lower income populations.
As part of this partnership, we are piloting an e-doctor service on the JumiaPay app in collaboration with a third-party service provider, “Meeting Doctors”. The objective of this service is to help workers, sellers and consumers in general access doctors remotely for a monthly subscription fee of around $1. The experiment will help validate the value delivered to our customers and workers and identify a sustainable model to achieve this.
- MONETIZATION UPDATE
Logistics services to third parties
- We are making significant progress on the roll-out of our logistics services to third parties. Packages shipped during the first quarter of 2022 reached a new record of 3.5 million, on behalf of over 1,250 clients, an increase of more than 200 clients compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.
Advertising
Our advertising activity experienced strong momentum during the first quarter of 2022, with 484 advertising campaigns, up 55% year-over-year, on behalf of almost 9,000 advertising clients, a 24% year-over-year increase. Advertising clients during the quarter included high profile brand partners such as Unilever, L’Oréal, Adidas, Danone, Xiaomi, Coca-Cola, Krispy Kreme, Burger King and many more.
We are constantly improving the efficiency of our campaigns to enhance the returns on investment for our advertising clients, through better audience targeting, enhanced personalization and campaign management tools. As a result, advertising campaign performance, measured by the click-through rate on our ads, increased by 56% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2022, supporting sales and return on ad spend for our advertisers.
- IMPACT
Earlier in May 2022, we launched our inaugural ESG report highlighting our sustainability strategy and key themes in alignment with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (“UN SDGs”). The first edition of this report has been designed as an overview of our sustainability strategy with a mapping of our current sustainability practices.
Our sustainability strategy is fully aligned with our corporate mission and has three main objectives:
– Living our mission: Our mission to “leverage technology to improve everyday lives” holds sustainability at its core. As we execute on this mission, we create jobs, reduce inequality and positively impact our communities.
– Embedding sustainability in our business operations: We aim to make business decisions and conduct our operations with sustainability guidelines and objectives in mind.
– Amplifying our impact through our ecosystem: Our impact is further amplified as we expand our sustainability practices to our ecosystem of partners and stakeholders.
Our sustainability practices today can be grouped under five material themes outlined below. These themes have been developed in line with our understanding of how our business impacts our key stakeholder groups: consumers, partners, employees, investors and our communities.
Environment
- Minimizing environmental impact through the reduction of carbon emissions, waste and offering customers pre-owned and refurbished goods.
Social
Providing convenience, accessibility and affordability to consumers.
Empowering sellers, partners, and communities by lowering the barriers to entry, providing training, access to funding and participating in initiatives to drive economic and social development.
Building an engaged, inclusive, and diverse workforce.
Governance
- Operating with strong governance and ethical standards.
Africa’s workforce is embracing artificial intelligence (AI) at a faster pace than global peers, but pressure is mounting for organisations to ramp up digital skills development as generative AI (GenAI) begins reshaping roles across industries.
This is according to PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025, which shows a continent ready for AI-enabled transformation, but facing a narrowing window to prepare, through skills development initiatives.
The survey, covering nearly 50 000 workers worldwide and 1 753 across South Africa, Algeria, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria, finds that African employees are already integrating AI into daily operations.
Sixty-four percent of respondents in Africa used AI tools in the past year, compared to 54% globally, and the sentiment is overwhelmingly positive. While only 17% report using GenAI every day, confidence in its benefits is high: 76% believe GenAI improves work quality, and 72% expect AI-driven productivity gains within three years.
In SA, executives are even more bullish, as 91% say AI has already lifted both productivity and work quality — a signal that leadership is pushing harder toward AI-enabled ways of working, notes the survey.
However, this optimism is coupled with rising concern about future readiness. Only 35% of African workers believe their skills will still be relevant three years from now. With GenAI expected to affect nearly half of all job roles, PwC warns that the continent’s workforce risks falling behind unless organisations accelerate large-scale reskilling.
Despite the pressures, employees are not standing still. PwC notes that African workers outperform their global peers in proactive learning, recording 15% higher participation in skills-building and receiving 6% more support from managers. This indicates that both workers and immediate supervisors recognise the pace of AI adoption and are pushing to adapt.
PwC Africa people and organisation leader, Dr Dayalan Govender, says the moment calls for decisive leadership. Organisations, he argues, must integrate AI into workforce strategies, accelerate digital adoption, and expand upskilling programmes at scale.
“Africa’s workforce is optimistic and ready for change, but leaders must accelerate digital adoption and invest in future-ready skills to convert this optimism into sustainable growth,” he says.
Beyond the technology shift, the survey captures a workforce hungry for growth but constrained by financial pressure. Many employees are preparing to make career moves: 45% plan to request a raise, and another 45% aim for a promotion in the next year. Yet household financial stability remains strained, with only a third of respondents reporting any money left over for savings.
Still, Africa’s workplaces continue to show strong foundations of trust and purpose — elements PwC believes will be critical in navigating GenAI disruption. More than 55% of workers trust management, and two-thirds say their work feels meaningful, both above global averages.
With AI adoption rising and employees motivated to reinvent their careers, PwC warns that the coming years will determine whether Africa’s early optimism translates into long-term competitiveness as GenAI transforms the world of work.
The report calls for embedding AI into workforce strategies to bridge the gap between optimism and practical adoption, scaling upskilling initiatives to prepare for GenAI disruption, and fostering trust and psychological safety to retain talent and drive innovation.
“For employers, these findings are a stark reminder that they can and should do more to help workers understand, adopt, and embrace AI’s transformative power.
“Employers may need to pay special attention to entry-level workers, nearly a third of whom say they’re worried to a large or very large extent about AI’s impact on their future, even as they’re also curious (47%) and optimistic (38%) about its long-term societal effects,” notes the report.
Nigerian organisations are facing the highest volume of weekly cyberattacks in Africa, according to the newly released African Perspectives on Cyber Security Report 2025 by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., a global leader in cybersecurity solutions.
The report revealed that Nigerian firms experience an average of 4,200 attacks per week, significantly higher than the continental average of 3,153 and 60 per cent above the global average of 1,963 attacks per organisation.
The findings highlight a sharp rise in attacks across Africa, driven largely by artificial intelligence-enabled threats.
Kingsley Oseghale, country manager for West Africa at Check Point, said attackers are increasingly using AI to automate phishing, impersonation, and cloud exploitation.
“AI has become part of the attack surface,” Oseghale said. “Attackers are using it to automate phishing and identity theft at scale. The only effective response is prevention-first security that combines visibility, governance, and AI protection.”
The report noted that cybercriminals are exploiting exposed identities and misconfigured systems to target critical sectors, including finance, energy, telecoms, and government.
Identity-led intrusions, AI-generated phishing campaigns, and multi-vector ransomware are on the rise.
Across the continent, Check Point identified key trends in different markets. Nigeria is experiencing business email compromise and cloud exploitation; South Africa faces rising ransomware, smishing, and botnet infections such as Vo1d and XorDDoS; Kenya has seen ransomware targeting critical energy infrastructure; and Morocco has experienced coordinated government and education-sector disruptions via DDoS and website defacement attacks.
The report highlights five major shifts shaping Africa’s cyber risk in 2025.
Traditional ransomware has evolved into data-leak extortion, AI-generated deception is widespread, and identity has emerged as the new security perimeter.
Weak cybersecurity, the report warned, can now affect international market access under regulations such as the EU’s NIS2 Directive, making digital resilience an economic necessity.
The study urged African businesses and governments to adopt prevention-first security strategies, including continuous risk assessment, regulatory readiness, and public-private collaboration.
Oseghale emphasised that, as AI reshapes operations, cybersecurity must shift from reaction to prediction.
“The real challenge is not adopting new technology but securing the trust that underpins it,” he said.
As Black Friday 2025 unfolds across Nigeria, new insights from Jumia’s Q3 2025 financial results reveal that more Nigerians are relying on digital retail to navigate inflation and rising living costs.
The data points to a more deliberate, value-driven shopper, one using online platforms to stretch budgets, compare options quickly, and extract more value from each purchase.
Jumia reported a 30 percent year-on-year increase in physical goods orders, while Gross Merchandise Value for physical goods rose by 43 percent.
This stronger GMV growth highlights a clear behavioural shift: consumers are assembling higher-value baskets by combining essentials with premium or long-term household items. Online retail is serving as a tool for strategic planning, not just convenience.
According to Temidayo Ojo, Chief Executive Officer of Jumia Nigeria, Black Friday now plays a more critical economic role. “Households are using digital retail to defend purchasing power. They plan their lists, compare prices instantly, and rely on the reliability and convenience that e-commerce offers,” he said.
This year’s Black Friday trends show growing demand in categories that directly support daily living. Household essentials and FMCG products are seeing significant uptake as families stock up during price drops. Home and kitchen equipment is also experiencing stronger demand as shoppers prioritise practical, durable tools. Affordable fashion and beauty products are gaining momentum as discounts make them more accessible.
Consumer behaviour in the lead-up to the sales period further reinforces this shift. Jumia recorded a notable increase in “Add to Wishlist” and “Add to Cart” activity, signalling more planning and fewer impulse purchases. The gap between GMV and order growth indicates that customers are optimising baskets using bundles, vouchers, and promo combinations, behaviours uniquely suited to digital platforms.
With inflation intensifying the need for smarter buying, trust markers on Jumia, such as verified sellers, official brand stores, ratings, and clear return policies, are becoming more central to decision-making. Authenticity and durability now outweigh the appeal of the lowest price.
Jumia’s logistics footprint is making these benefits available nationwide. Its 30,000 sqm Isolo fulfilment centre, 480 pickup stations, and 62 logistics partners ensure that customers in secondary and peri-urban cities enjoy the same deals as those in major hubs, reducing travel burdens and adding financial value.
Overall, Jumia’s Q3 data and Black Friday trends show that Nigerians are turning to digital retail as a practical, strategic response to inflation, using e-commerce to manage budgets, preserve purchasing power, and make more informed buying decisions.
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