Strategic partnerships are integral to e-commerce success in Africa, often producing mutual long lasting benefits for all parties involved. At Jumia, we are always trying to add value to other product and service providers.
A few years ago, the CEO of a telecom service provider expressed the need to have delivery services for his company’s sim cards. At the time, the only options available were mainly oriented toward standard mail and business-to-business deliveries. This meant that sim cards had to be delivered in bulk to the equivalent of physical retail outlets where consumers would have to buy them in person.
However, the CEO recognized the importance of getting sim cards to their rightful owners.
That is how the idea of Jumia Logistics services to third party logistics (3PL) was born. We, at Jumia, agreed that the task would be more suited for an e-commerce company conversant with business-to-consumer (B2C) deliveries.
Providing external businesses with access to Jumia Logistics
Historically, Jumia’s logistics services were reserved for e-commerce and food vendors operating on our marketplace. Our early experience with one telecom that had need for last-mile delivery services prompted Jumia to take on the task, and soon we realized that there were many other businesses that could leverage Jumia’s network, technology, and expertise for last-mile deliveries across our countries in Africa.
Our team drew from the available pool of Jumia sellers, particularly those who were selling through additional channels on Social Media. By doing so, we would discover the differences in the expectations of consumers buying through our platform and those buying from sellers outside our platform.
These included scenarios such as buyers delegating the receiving of packages to other people, impromptu changes in delivery addresses, returns, payments and more. Subsequently, we structured our services while factoring in all these possibilities and how to deal with them effectively.
Our ability to use technology to digitize many of the administrative procedures put us in a great position to simplify the delivery exercise. Additionally, with pre-established contingency plans for address mix-ups and missed pickups amongst other eventualities, we were quite suited for this job.
Furthermore, our widespread network of hubs and fleet availability would provide the most efficient storage and last-mile delivery solutions for the most geographically complicated drop-offs.
Today, we deliver hundreds of thousands of packages for external businesses every month. In Morocco alone, we continue to onboard new clients every month.
How the service works
To utilize Jumia Logistics Services, any company or business can submit an application through a form on our website and create their account. They then submit a spreadsheet with key information about their packages to be delivered, including the recipient's name, address, phone number, and city.
At this point, we assist with the generation and printing of labels for the packages. We then collect these packages from the seller’s physical address, or they can have them dropped off at our nearest hub. The packages are then scanned, and the seller receives a notification.
The seller can track the movement of the package all the way to the recipient through a single application. In case the package isn’t delivered, the seller can send the recipient a reminder that their package has arrived or double-check their records to ensure they provided the right address.
Benefits of using Jumia Logistics Services
Businesses using Jumia Logistics benefit in a number of ways such as:
They enjoy greater visibility of the delivery process through a centralized digital platform and can be confident that every package is handled appropriately while in transit.
We also provide a large network of distribution hubs that simplify the storage and transportation of packages to be delivered to different destinations.
Our delivery agents can collect payments for cash on delivery orders on the seller’s behalf. The seller is continuously updated about their revenue and also receives weekly payments.
With our logistics available to third parties, businesses can easily serve more consumers, irrespective of whether they shop from our platform.
We also achieve a better ratio of fixed costs to clients served, which increases the sustainability and growth of our operations.
Going forward, we aim to enhance our logistics services in order to accommodate more B2B use while still offering the same quality that B2C sellers currently enjoy.
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Samir Sakane
Head of Fulfilment and Network - Jumia Maroc
With a degree in Engineering in Logistics, Samir joined Jumia Maroc in 2014 as After-sales manager for two years. From January 2017 to March 2019, Samit was promoted to be the Network and middle miles manager, and since March 2019 to date, he’s been in charge of both networking and fulfillment for Jumia Maroc. Samir’s experience within Jumia was a journey