E-Commerce platform Jumia has recorded a 36.5% drop in orders and a 28.1% drop in quarterly active customers, the company revealed in their 2023 Quarter two report.

According to the report which has been seen by The Tower Post, Jumia’s active users dropped from 3.4 million in Q2 2022 to 2.4 million in Q2 2023. 

The company’s orders dropped from 10.3 million in Q2 2022 to 6.5 million in Q2 2023, a drop which company officials attributed to “continued macro challenges with elevated inflation levels affecting consumers’ spending power and sellers’ ability to source goods due to import restrictions.”

The drop in the number of active users and eventually orders led to a decline in the gross market value of items sold on the platform by 25.1% from $271.1 million in Q2 2022 to $203.3 million in Q2 2023.

Jumia’s gross revenue dropped by 15.4%.

While the company has recorded a drop in revenue and gross profit, CEO Francis Dufay says they are making they are on the right track to lowering losses that the company has been making since their launch in 2012.

“We continue to deliver strongly on our overriding objective of loss reduction and progress towards profitability. In the second quarter of 2023, both Adjusted EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization] and Operating losses decreased by 66% year-over-year, reaching the lowest loss levels in over 4 years,” said Dufay.

“Considering this strong progress, we are updating our Adjusted EBITDA loss guidance for the full year 2023 to $90-100 million, compared to $100-120 million previously. We are navigating challenging macro conditions with discipline and focus, doubling down on our efficiency efforts.”

“Compared to the second quarter of 2022, Fulfilment and Sales & Advertising expenses were down 50% and 74%, respectively. We are also starting to reap the benefits of our actions on overhead costs with G&A excluding share-based compensation decreasing by a third year-over-year, reaching a 4-year low at $17.7 million,” he added.