Pernod Ricard and the e-commerce platform Jumia strengthen their partnership

Pernod Ricard, the world's second largest wine and spirits’ company present in 13 African countries, and Jumia, the leading e-commerce player on the continent, today announced the strengthening of their partnership. In this context, Pernod Ricard will invest into Jumia, thus becoming a strategic shareholder. 

Pernod Ricard will share its deep knowledge about consumer and physical distribution networks in Africa, while Jumia will bring forward its digital, logistics and payment platforms. This funding from Pernod Ricard positions Jumia to consolidate its regional leadership, and will allow Pernod Ricard to benefit from new opportunities to distribute its products online on the continent.

“We are very proud to welcome Pernod Ricard as a new strategic partner of Jumia. This investment is an acknowledgement of the growth and innovation that Jumia has achieved since 2012”, said Sacha Poignonnec and Jérémy Hodara, co-CEOs of Jumia.
 
As outlined by Gilles Bogaert, Pernod Ricard’s EMEA LATAM CEO, “Pernod Ricard has made Africa its new frontier, as shown by the successive openings of subsidiaries over the last few years. Our strategy is consumer-oriented and we strive to transform to strenghten our growth in this very promising continent. Jumia is a partner of choice as digital and e-commerce represent real strategic accelerators in this Region for us”.   

“Our business relationship with Jumia traces back to 2016 with the successful launch of Jumia-Party, Jumia’s e-commerce platform based on the catching idea ‘We deliver. You Party’, and centered on consumption moments. This innovation has experienced solid growth in cities such as Lagos, Nairobi and Accra. With this reinforced strategic partnership, Pernod Ricard will be able to offer its large portfolio of Premium brands to a greater number of consumers in Africa”, stated Paul-Robert Bouhier, President of Pernod Ricard Sub Saharan Africa. 

In addition to its online services platform, Jumia also operates a restaurant delivery platform, Jumia Food, as well as a hotel booking platform, Jumia Travel, which together represent around 25 000 establishments in Africa. Pernod Ricard will be able to rely on this network to develop the presence of its brands in the out-of-home segment.  

Lazard acted as financial advisor to Jumia on this transaction.