Jumia Technologies to suspend Jumia Foods delivery service in Rwanda

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Online retailer Jumia Technologies said on Monday it would suspend food and drinks delivery service Jumia Foods in Rwanda effective Dec. 9.

The suspension comes after Jumia said it had shut its e-commerce business in Tanzania in late November, and in Cameroon in the middle of the same month.

“We have made the difficult decision to suspend our on-demand services in Rwanda effective on ... December 9th, 2019,” the company said in a statement.

“While decisions like these are always difficult, it is more important now than ever to put our focus and resources where they can bring the best value and help us thrive.”

With an e-commerce business similar to Amazon’s and a classified portal like Alibaba’s, Jumia sells its own stock and takes a cut of third-party transactions on its website.

But that business model has yet to pay off. Jumia missed revenue estimates for the second time in three quarters, according to results announced in November.

Jumia shares were trading at $5.76 on Monday in New York, down 1.5%.