In the recently published 9 months results for Rocket Internet, its African eCommerce property Jumia grew its Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) by 32.4% year over year to €236 million in 9 months ending September 2017.
(Gross merchandise volume, or GMV, refers to the total volume in dollars of sales over a given time period on an e-commerce site such as eBay. This figure was commonly used in place of sales or revenue figures in the early days of e-commerce but has become a somewhat outdated way to measure value of a company.)
The online retailer, which operates nine products across 23 African countries, also recorded a 5.3% growth in revenue to €57.3 million within the same timeframe as compared to last year. Total transactions and Active customers also grew by 62.0% and 30.1% respectively.
Total transactions refer to the total value transactions sold within the period, including taxes, including shipping costs. While Active customers refer to the number of customers having made at least one transaction within the last 12 months before end of period
However though the company grew in terms of above indices, it recorded a dip in gross profit from €21.8 million to €19.1 million.
In June 2016, all business models of Africa Internet Group were renamed around the Jumia brand. While on August 30, 2016 Africa eCommerce Holding GmbH, the holding company of Jumia, was merged into Africa Internet Holding GmbH (formerly trading under Africa Internet Group).
Rocket Internet’s consolidated loss for the first nine months 2017 significantly improved from € -642 million in 9M 2016 to € -44 million.
