Overview
Jumia, often referred to as "The Amazon of Africa," is the continent's largest e-tailer, operating across 10 African markets and listed on the NYSE under $JMIA. Since its launch in 2012, Jumia has aimed to deliver a seamless shopping experience to Africa's 1.2 billion people while fostering an environment for businesses to thrive, driving growth and prosperity across the region.
As the founding designer (and later on Global Head of Design), working on Jumia, at the intersection of brand and product, it was a privilege, exciting, and life changing. Key stats before I left - Jumia operated in 10 African countries, over 30 million goods across platforms, over 20% revenue growth YoY, first African tech listed on the NYSE ($JMIA), shipped over 6 verticals (food, car deals, marketplace, payments, logistics, travel), led design in 14 countries ( over 60 direct and functional reporting lines) and more.
My contribution
Brand design
Product design
Product strategy
Brand strategy
The team
Brand designers
Product designers
Product owners
Marketing managers
Year
2022
Challenge
When Jumia launched in 2012, mobile and web internet penetration was still at its early stage, ecommerce experience was almost non-existent, brick and mortar stores were the norm, thereby making it hard for consumers to really trust the brand. As the founding designer, it was really herculean, there were lots of consumer pain-points we needed to solve, plus burdened with consumer mind-shift from traditional to online.
Together with the team, we embarked on field studies, activated focus groups, took on customer support roles, experiential marketing activations, to fully immerse ourselves, as locals and as expats. Some observations were - zero trust for online payments, long delivery timelines concerns, increase in mobile smartphone users amid internet data cost reduction and cheaper smartphones market entry.
Design strategy
Simple, accessible, and intuitive platform that requires less effort, from journey start to finish. Seamless navigation with product categorization for easier product discovery
Pioneering Pay on Delivery - as a means to increase consumer trust, convenience, and conversion
Consistent brand system that builds equity and promotes consumer mind-shift, organically
Boosting adoption through experiential marketing - Designed campaigns bridging offline and online, driving user engagement, DAU/MAU growth, and conversions with initiatives like treasure hunts, flash sales, and gamification.
We embraced a mobile-first approach, prioritizing responsive layouts, intuitive navigation, and lightweight designs to align with Africa's growing smartphone penetration and accommodate users with limited internet bandwidth
Design expressions
I conceptualized, designed, and implemented Jumia's brand system to exude confidence, youthfulness, boldness, and energy. The goal was to foster consumer trust, akin to the assurance felt in physical retail stores. This cohesive brand styling seamlessly integrates across both digital and offline experiences, creating a consistent and reliable impression.
Summary
Jumia became Africa's first tech unicorn in 2016, valued at over $1 billion from prominent backers like Goldman Sachs, MTN, and AXA Group. With over 29 million products, servicing millions of africans, it's dubbed the 'Amazon of Africa', ushering businesses into their next phase of growth while providing convenience to consumers.
Jumia grew into multiple verticals - food, deals, marketplace, lending, logistics and more.