Africa’s largest online retailer, Jumia, announced plans to close Zando, its online fashion retail store in South Africa and shut down operations in Tunisia, citing both nations made up an insignificant portion of its overall operations.

The CEO of Jumia, Francis Dufay, disclosed on Wednesday that the company reached the decision after weighing its options to conclude that Zando in South Africa and its operations in Tunisia were dispensable and could not adversely impact their business figures.

The Jumia boss told Reuters that operations in the two countries only constituted 2.7 per cent of total orders and three per cent of Gross Merchandise Value between January and June 30, 2024.

Although Jumia’s fashion retail outlet in South Africa and Tunisia recorded a decline in revenue, Mr Dufay insisted that the company’s planned exit from both nations was not easy.

“After a thorough analysis, we made the difficult decision to close down our operations in South Africa and Tunisia,” Jumia said in a statement on Wednesday. “Both businesses account for a negligible portion of our overall operations.”

The businesses in South Africa and Tunisia will cease by the end of 2024 resulting in approximately 110 job losses.

Mr Dufay explained that Jumia’s growth in both countries has been stunted due to harsh competition and macroeconomic conditions, stating that the e-commerce company underperformed in terms of the business expectations set for the company.

“Competitive and macroeconomic conditions in both markets have limited each country’s growth potential, and their contribution to our overall business has not aligned with expectations.

“Decisions like these are never easy, and we are extremely grateful to team members in both countries who worked tirelessly to serve our customers every day,” he said.

“We are also grateful to our suppliers, vendors, and logistics partners in these markets. We deeply thank them for their hard work and service to Jumia.”

Mr Dufay said pulling the plug on business activities in South Africa and Tunisia will enable Jumia to concentrate on Nigeria and key African markets that include Ghana, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Morocco, Uganda and Senegal.