Original title: The stock price of “Amazon Africa” has fallen 70% since listing, and is now committed to turning losses into profits through services and platforms Source: Tencent Technology
Tencent Technology News According to foreign media reports, an African e-commerce unicorn, a co-founder of Jumia, known as the “Amazon of Africa,” claims that the company became the first technology company in Africa to be listed in New York last year, and now the company is committed to turning losses into profits through services and platforms.
Jeremy Hodara (Jeremy Hodara), co-founder of Jumia, said the company's goal is to take full advantage of its payment platform and infrastructure network and increase revenue from servicing third-party sellers in its online marketplace.
“We will be very self-disciplined and focused on our path to profit,” Hodara told reporters at the company's Lagos office on Tuesday.
Jumia's market capitalization peaked at nearly 4 billion US dollars, then declined all the way down. The company's stock price has dropped nearly 70% since its IPO in April last year.
Its stock price began to plummet after short seller Citron Research (Citron Research) doubted its sales data. This was a major blow to investor confidence.
At the end of last year, the company shut down e-commerce services in Cameroon and Tanzania, and stopped food delivery services in Rwanda. Hodala declined to say whether the company would shrink business and lay off workers in more markets.
The company's adjusted EBITDA loss for the third quarter extended to 45 million euros, up nearly 27% from the same period last year. As the company consumes a lot of cash, analysts have warned that raising more capital could be a challenge for the company.
Sarah Simon (Sarah Simon), a senior analyst at Blumberg Bank, said, “Obviously this is a bit difficult. But I think investors will buy if they finally believe their stories. However, Jumia has to prove herself.”
Hodala declined to comment on whether Jumia plans to seek more external cash, but said costs will drop as the business expands. He said that the improvement of the algorithm also helped to a certain extent.
Hodala said the company's online payments platform, JumiaPay, is a key part of the growth plan. The company is interested in making JumiaPay and its logistics network available to third parties, even those that don't sell goods on its e-commerce platform.
Jumia is already being tested on a small scale. However, he said that widespread adoption may eventually arrive. For example, a person can deliver a package at any Jumia hub in Lagos and have Jumia deliver it to one of their friends in Nairobi.
“We have very important sites across the continent where we can receive and distribute packages,” he said. It's unique.” Hodala said.
In the short term, the company is also looking to increase and charge fees for other services offered to sellers in addition to the services it already provides, such as warehouse space, marketing services, and search engine optimization.
“In an ideal situation, your full profit benefit would be the additional services you sell to sellers rather than charging them a commission for selling the product,” he said. (Reviewed by Tencent Technology/Happy Learning)