Caroline Petit has been Director of Jumia Côte d'Ivoire since January 2024. After studying
business at Kedge Business School in France, she joined Jumia nine years ago. She has held successive management positions in all departments at Jumia
Côte d'Ivoire, from logistics to marketing, sales, and operations.
Just before being appointed Managing Director, she headed up the advertising department.
What are your activities?
The Jumia platform is an online marketplace that connects thousands of sellers and hundreds of thousands
of buyers by providing them with a logistics service that enables
the shipping and delivery of packages, in addition to a payment service. We enable Ivorian and international
companies to have an online presence and sell throughout the country. We
have around 100 official stores in all kinds of categories (fashion and beauty,
household appliances, phones, computers, agriculture, baby products, etc.). These stores are
the result of partnerships with brands such as A. Constant, Leroy Merlin, Apple, Adidas
, etc., which allow us to offer products at factory prices and provide the best for our customers.
Jumia has been involved in transforming the African economy through
new technologies for several years now. How are your activities in Côte d'Ivoire going?
Jumia pioneered e-commerce in Côte d'Ivoire and Africa. We have created a new economic
culture, adopted a new way of shopping online, created a unique
technology, a logistics platform for delivery where certain local last-mile contexts
are sometimes very complicated (no addresses, no suitable roads), and provided payment solutions to
a largely unbanked population.
Our business is growing in Ivory Coast. We identify our customers' needs and our
sales representatives negotiate with vendors to obtain excellent value for money. We deliver
all kinds of products throughout the country. 90% of our customers say they have saved money
thanks to their purchases, and more than 70% of them place repeat orders for this very reason.
Can you share some key figures with us?
At Jumia Côte d'Ivoire, we ensure that consumers have the widest possible choice of products
at the best prices. Today, there are more than 500,000 products available on the website and app.
Our sales representatives negotiate with sellers to obtain excellent value for money.
Jumia is committed to satisfying all Ivorians, so we have invested heavily in enabling rural populations
to enjoy the benefits and opportunities of e-commerce on an equal footing through an innovative local
commerce model. We are now present in more than 100 cities
in Côte d'Ivoire through 200 pickup points, which gives us strong penetration in rural
areas where nearly half of the population lives.
We have also launched the J-Force concept, which is a local agent channel for reaching
this population. These teams are trained to educate consumers and raise their awareness of
e-commerce. We have a network of more than 17,000 independent sales agents.
Thanks to J-Force and our dense network of pick-up points, we are able to respond more effectively to
the needs of consumers who do not have access to a wide variety of products due to limited
options in the local market, and above all at the same prices as residents of Abidjan. By facilitating access to
e-commerce for rural consumers through a physical presence, Jumia is reaching out to
communities by offering a highly diverse product catalog, affordable prices, and orders
delivered close to home.
How is e-commerce developing overall in Côte d'Ivoire?
E-commerce is developing quite well thanks to the growth of smartphones and internet
penetration, even though it only accounts for 4 to 5% of all sales. At Jumia, we see that
e-commerce is extremely relevant in secondary and rural areas in Africa, providing a concrete
solution for communities. In Côte d'Ivoire, more than 50% of orders come from these rural
areas. Retail penetration is very low, with one store for every 62,000 people, compared to
around one for every 2,000 people in Europe. E-commerce provides a concrete solution for communities
that did not have much choice in terms of products, which were often five to six times more expensive and sometimes
unavailable locally. E-commerce is not a shopping convenience, as one might think, but a
real solution for these communities.
Many e-commerce players are scaling back, as Afrimarket has done in recent
weeks. What do you think about that? How do you see the sector evolving? Twelve
years ago, before Jumia, there was no e-commerce in Africa, but today it is more than a reality.
This new form of economy has brought new opportunities for businesses to grow and
develop, providing everyday solutions to the needs of millions of consumers and local communities
. It has enabled logistics companies to grow. This entire
ecosystem is a significant opportunity for job creation, particularly for women and young
people. It is estimated that Jumia has succeeded in creating more than half a million jobs indirectly. According to a
BCG study, online marketplaces could create 5 million jobs by 2025.
E-commerce has a bright future in Africa. According to the GSMA, by 2025, 61% of internet
connections in Africa could be via smartphones (including 33% via 4G), and there could be half
a billion potential e-commerce users, according to UNCTAD.
What are your prospects for growth?
Our main goal is to simplify our customers' lives with the internet. We want to offer our
customers even more product categories and brands, deliver even faster, and improve
the customer experience. Today, we have succeeded in becoming the country's leader with more than 500,000
products available on the website (www.jumia.ci). We also aim to cover the
entire country, even reaching the most remote villages.
For our salespeople and partners, we want to ensure a strong partnership so that we
can all achieve our goals and enjoy strong growth year after year.