Why the ‘Amazon of Africa’ stumbled – and what we can learn from it

Jumia is an e-commerce group that once styled itself as the ‘Amazon of Africa’. Investors poured in, drawn by a slick pitch, a confident founding team, and the promise of a continent coming online fast. Yet despite raising hundreds of millions of dollars, the company ran into persistent losses, showing that funding and hype alone can’t guarantee success.

In the end, Jumia shows what can happen when Western business models don’t match local realities. For international brands – especially those working in cross-border e-commerce – it’s a reminder that expanding into new markets takes more than money. It requires paying close attention to local conditions and really understanding how people in each market live, shop, and make decisions.

The rise and recalibration of Africa’s great e-commerce hope

When Jumia launched in 2012, the pitch was tailor-made for a world drunk on cheap capital. ‘X for Y’ models were in vogue – Uber-for-this, Amazon-for-that – and Africa, with its rising mobile adoption and growing consumer class, seemed ready for digital disruption.

Investors piled in. Goldman Sachs, Rocket Internet, Orange, Pernod Ricard, and MTN helped Jumia raise more than $800 million before its 2019 IPO – the first-ever African tech IPO on the NYSE. It was heralded as a breakthrough moment for African innovation. But in fact, the model they were betting on wasn’t African. It was Western, and faced these challenges:

1. A Silicon Valley playbook in markets with different realities

Jumia expanded at remarkable speed: 14 countries within Africa, multiple verticals (e-commerce, food delivery, travel, logistics, payments), and a mission to scale rapidly.

But each of those 14 countries had distinct infrastructure, economic volatility, consumer preferences, and logistical barriers. Many of the things that make online shopping straightforward in Western countries – good roads, clear addresses, reliable delivery networks, and functioning postal services – weren’t in place in parts of Africa. Jumia assumed it could get packages to customers quickly and easily, but in reality, getting items from warehouses to people’s homes was much harder. You can’t ‘move fast and break things’ when the basics aren’t built yet.

2. Misjudging the customer base

A core assumption failed: that rising internet access would directly translate into e-commerce adoption. That proved not to be the case. Even today, in many African markets:

• E-commerce isn’t perceived as essential
• Disposable income is thin
• Economic shocks (inflation, currency devaluation) reshape buying habits rapidly
• Cash-on-delivery often remains the norm
• Trust in online transactions is limited

Early Jumia targeted a Western-style urban middle class – a demographic that the company later admitted was smaller and poorer than assumed. Consumer behaviours, such as a reliance on informal markets and preference for social commerce, also shaped adoption patterns in ways Western models didn’t anticipate.

3. Decision-makers too far from the market

Many of Jumia’s senior executives were based not in Lagos, Cairo, or Nairobi, but in Dubai. Local teams understood customer behaviour firsthand, while decisions made from afar sometimes missed key market realities.

For an agency like Oban, this reinforces a familiar lesson: strategies work best when local expertise guides them, helping campaigns reflect the nuances that matter to customers on the ground.

4. A competitor landscape that changed overnight

As Jumia scaled back in recent years, new entrants surged – in particular, Shein and Temu, whose logistical muscle and aggressive discounting have recalibrated expectations for price and delivery. Competing with Chinese e-commerce giants is difficult enough in Western markets; in price-sensitive African markets, it’s existential.

Jumia’s pivot: Smaller, more focused, and more local

Since 2022, under CEO Francis Dufay, Jumia has moved from rapid expansion to a more focused approach. That means:

• Operating in nine countries instead of 14
• Closing non-core areas like food and travel
• Cutting marketing costs significantly
• Closing offices outside Africa
• Focusing on Africa’s real middle class, typically earning $200–$300 a month
• Offering affordable everyday items rather than premium products
• Aiming to become profitable by 2027

The changes are paying off. Losses have been cut by half, orders and total sales are rising, and according to the Financial Times, analysts now see a 70% chance of the company reaching profitability, compared with almost no chance a few years ago. Jumia’s experience shows why localisation is essential for global online retail strategy.

What Jumia teaches us about expanding into diverse markets

Jumia’s story contains clear lessons for international e-commerce brands:

1. Global models don’t scale without local truth: A successful model in the US or UK doesn’t automatically translate to Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, or even Europe. Whether it’s price sensitivity, delivery expectations, payment habits, search behaviour or UX preferences, localisation for global e-commerce is essential.

2. Infrastructure matters more than ambition: You can’t build a frictionless digital journey if the last mile is broken. Market readiness is as important as market potential.

3. Context can’t be outsourced to HQ: Decision-makers who are distant from everyday customers can struggle to make fully informed choices. International e-commerce brands need local, on-the-ground insight to succeed.

4. Local competitors aren’t always who you expect: Jumia didn’t lose mainly to local rivals – it now competes with Temu and Shein. Global competition is borderless.

5. Sustainable growth requires focus: Sustainable growth requires focus. Super-app fantasies are seductive, promising to do everything for everyone. But in emerging markets, trying to be everything all at once often backfires. Clear priorities, a deep understanding of what customers genuinely need, and doing a few things really well usually beats chasing breadth.

Practical takeaways for global e-commerce marketers

• Avoid copy-pasting Western strategies into structurally different markets – what works in one country rarely translates directly to another. Success requires understanding the local ecosystem, from payment habits to logistics.
  
  
• Invest in genuine cultural and digital insight, not assumptions – relying on stereotypes or surface-level data can lead to misaligned campaigns. Deep knowledge of how people live, shop, and interact online is invaluable.
  
  
• Align your offering with real purchasing power, not imagined audiences – it’s easy to target a ‘middle class’ audience based on Western benchmarks, but local realities often differ. Products and pricing need to reflect what people can actually afford.
  
  
• Adapt UX, content, and SEO to local behaviours – language, search patterns, preferred platforms, and mobile vs desktop usage vary widely. Customising the user experience is critical for engagement and conversions.
  
  
• Plan for infrastructure friction, not just ideal user journeys – roads, delivery networks, internet connectivity, and addressing systems may not match Western expectations. Campaigns must account for these practical challenges.
  
  
• Use local experts, not just local data – numbers can show what is happening, but they don’t explain why. People who live and work in the market understand local habits, culture, and challenges. Their insights help make sense of the data, avoid pitfalls, and create cross-border strategies that connect with customers.

Looking to grow internationally? Let’s talk

Oban helps brands grow across borders by combining digital expertise with insight from Local In-Market Experts who live and breathe their cultures. If you’re expanding into new markets – or want to strengthen your performance in existing markets – we can help you avoid the costly mistakes others have made. Get in touch to discuss your global growth plans.