Launched in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2012, Jumia is Africa’s first unicorn, operating in more than twenty African countries. The company is Africa’s largest ecommerce ecosystem, and a startup valued over $1 billion. To achieve this unicorn position, Jumia was already using dynamic retargeting as a key part of their marketing mix to drive sales and grow their business.
However, as part of the team’s vision to become “Africa’s biggest ecommerce ecosystem,” Jumia began to expand the focus from electronics and fashion into travel, cars, jobs, and food.
As the company became more sophisticated in product offerings, marketing strategies had to become more sophisticated as well. Rather than focusing on increasing sales, Jumia sought to increase sales revenue per SKU. This meant that not only would Jumia remain the largest ecommerce platform across Africa, but would also be the most profitable company driven by customer demand.
To help reach this ambitious goal, Jumia needed a partner that was willing to adapt to Africa’s changing commerce landscape and understand the company’s position within it.
The Engine that Revs Criteo Dynamic Retargeting
Jumia had been working with Criteo with stellar results since 2015 and now wanted to take the company’s marketing strategy to the next level. The company had three specific goals in mind:
- Increase average basket value
- Increase sales revenue and return on marketing investment
- Achieve scalability across multiple markets.
Criteo understands that campaign performance means different things for different marketers. Jumia wanted an even more powerful solution that required the least technical work from their side, so Criteo tapped into our R&D team to adapt our technology to the team’s needs.
The Criteo Engine powers all Criteo products by continuously capturing and analyzing insights across more than 72% of all online shoppers globally. These insights include the products they view and purchase, the sites they visit, and their site interactions.
When it comes to dynamic retargeting, the Criteo Engine enables Criteo to predict with great accuracy the right product recommendations, bids, and ad designs that are most likely to result in a conversion and drive campaign performance.
Most importantly, the technology allows companies to optimize dynamic retargeting campaigns based on business objectives.
For Jumia, this meant changing the Criteo Engine’s optimization model from one of Conversion Optimization to Revenue Optimization. While previously Conversion Optimization enabled Jumia to optimize against CPO and maximize sales volumes, Revenue Optimization enables Jumia to reach their new goal of optimizing against COS and maximizing order value.
Results fit for a Unicorn
After the launch of Jumia’s new Revenue Optimization model, Jumia saw dramatic return on ad spend (ROAS) increases across markets: 120% in Nigeria, 103% in Morocco, and 63% in Egypt. Average cart values also increased, from 14% (Nigeria) to 30% (Egypt). And most exciting was perhaps the increase in new customers that Criteo helped Jumia achieve: 58% in Nigeria, 64% in Morocco, and 57% in Egypt.
By using Criteo’s powerful technology to track customers and prospects throughout their entire purchase journey, Jumia was able to gain a full circle of insights. These insights have now allowed the team to build strategic long-term plans based on understanding how each customer and prospect behaves, and to build relationships with these shoppers.
When it comes to growing your business, what works for one company might not work for yours. It’s essential to work with a marketing technology partner who not only understands your business, but who will work in tandem with your company’s development and goals. When it comes to Criteo Dynamic Retargeting, recalibrating the Criteo Engine for Jumia’s needs was just another step in a long and fruitful partnership.
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