Shocking news for the Rwandese, Jumia closed shop in Rwanda. This came just a few days ago, and it already looks like Jumia Rwanda will no longer be able to accept cash on delivery and can only process pre-paid orders. It has come at a point when Jumia was already closing up shops in many other African countries and it’s stopping its services for more other African country markets.
With Tanzania being the last country, come 9th January 2020, no more Jumia operations will prevail in the premises of the Rwandan republic. This will reduce Jumia’s operations to strictly 11 countries on the continent which is not a significant share for an e-commerce business that uses big monikers like ‘the Amazon of Africa.
It is noted that Jumia currently has 4.8 million active customers as of the second quarter of 2019 which is an increase of 500,000 compared to the first quarter of the year. The company is working on a target of breaking even towards the end of 2022. The online shopping platform was founded in 2012 in Nigeria by Frenchmen Jérémy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec
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Why Jumia closed shop in Rwanda?
Jumia reported this year in August that the company was in serious trouble and it revealed some shocking revelations that it has suspended some staff over an $18m sales fraud. The Company was facing “several” lawsuits in New York over its IPO. Losses continue to widen to more than $70m in the second quarter alone.
This is what Jumia had to say in a statement to the press in regard to the closure of their Rwanda operations::
“We regret to inform you that Jumia will suspend our on-demand delivery operations in Rwanda on January 9th, 2020.
We thank you for your loyalty and continued trust over the years, it’s been our pleasure to serve you all. We will endeavor to ensure that orders received up until the 9th of January will be processed to the high standard you have come to expect of us.
Starting December 9th, 2019 we will no longer be able to accept cash on delivery and can only process pre-paid orders. 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.”, Jumia Rwanda stated.
Jumia will continue to support buyers and vendors to do business online on our classifieds portal, previously called Jumia Deals and which will now be the main portal jumia.rw – thousands of buyers and vendors get in touch every month on this portal and we believe it will continue to become more and more relevant in the future.
As the first on-demand e-commerce platform in Rwanda, we hope to have set the standard for customer service and hope that your experience with us has exceeded all expectations.”