Jumia to Expand Food Delivery Service in Africa

With food delivery accounting for a significant portion of all transactions across the Jumia platform, the company’s co-CEO, Sacha Poignonnec, has said the e-commerce giant plans to expand the service to Egypt following the exit of Uber Eats last year.

The food delivery expansion plan comes after a year during which the demand for delivered meals and groceries exploded worldwide as restrictions to contain the novel coronavirus disease kept people indoors. According to a MarketWatch report, the pandemic more than doubled the use of food delivery apps by Americans and Morgan Stanley estimates the online food delivery market hit $45 billion in 2020.

Food makes up 20% of overall transactions on Jumia and is growing quickly. According to Poignonnec food delivery is “increasingly important” to Jumia as the New York-listed company completed five million online food orders in 2020.

Also Read: Jumia’s New Technology Center Launches In Egypt

The move into Egypt means Jumia is offering some form of food delivery in all 11 of its markets except South Africa, where Naspers-owned Mr. D Food and Uber Eats dominate. “Egypt is a promising market,” Poignonnec said, adding that the company has added chain restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King so far, with more to come.

Jumia’s expansion signals an intention by the company to grow beyond its main market of trading phones and electronics. It recently launched a new technology center in the North African country, from where it hopes to serve the rest of Africa.

The Cairo Technology Center was set up to provide technical support to the company’s electronic payment platform, JumiaPay, as well as facilitate the provision of other digital services. According to the company, employees at the tech hub are working on developing the fintech platform and many other digital services.

Also Read: Jumia’s FY20 Report Shows Gradual Move Towards Profitability

The African e-commerce giant also recently partnered with Mondia to launch a mobile gaming service – accessible from the JumiaPay App. The gaming portal is available in five African countries for a start, including Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, and Ghana.

There are plans to expand the service to Jumia customers in Tunisia and Côte d’Ivoire over the next few months. Subscriptions to Jumia Games give customers unlimited access to all games with prices starting from $1.8 per month.

“We have always been at the forefront of providing our consumers with the latest and best products and services. With the launch of this new category on JumiaPay Apps, we are providing our consumers with an exciting digital gaming and entertainment experience,” said Sami Louali, EVP Financial Services at Jumia Group.

Jumia’s full-year 2020 financials show the online retailer’s path to profitability was on course with losses that amounted to €149 million in 2020, down from €227.9 million in 2019.

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