African e-commerce company Jumia recorded a full-year loss of $207 million and a Q4 loss of $49.2 million in 2022.
This information was disclosed in its audited financial statement for the fourth quarter of 2022.
Jumia recorded a revenue of $66 million for Q4, the company made a full year loss of $207 million and a Q4 loss of $49.2 million, and it projects that it will reduce its losses even further in 2023 to a range of $100 to $120 million. Several metrics were down for this quarter, including order volume, which dropped to 9.9 million, and gross merchandise volume (GMV), which dipped to $283.1 million, as well as Jumia Pay’s total processed volume also seeing a decline.
Additionally, Jumia’s advertising expense fell by 40% in Q4 as part of efforts to reduce promotional costs across board. It aims to reduce promotional spend in-app in the hopes that cutting these kinds of costs will reduce losses without affecting growth. Another significant cost-cutting measure is the relocation of its operations from Dubai.
It’s unclear how many employees Jumia has in Dubai, but the company says it has now reduced its headcount in the emirate by 60%. It says the rest of its staff in Dubai will be relocated to Africa, but no timetable has been provided.Jumia also put a number to the number of staff it laid off last year, sharing that 900 people were sacked within the organization; it is unclear what the company’s total headcount is at the moment.
The appointment of Francis Dufay as CEO was one key announcement from Jumia that could potentially provide some stability going forward after he was named interim CEO back in December 2020, creating uncertainty regarding who would lead the company long term. This move will allow them to focus on supporting their new leader while executing his mandate more effectively than before.
The company has stated that it will discontinue its logistics-as-a-service offering, for instance, and will roll back food delivery in Ghana, Egypt, and Senegal.
