Jumia, an African internet retailer, is growing in spite of competition from China

Jumia Technologies, an e-commerce company with a focus on Africa, said Friday that it will increase orders by up to 25% and continuing cutting expenses this year as it battles for market share against Chinese rivals like Temu that want to develop on the continent.

In an effort to generate a profit, Jumia has been drastically decreasing expenses. Some of these cost-cutting measures include lowering staffing levels, ending delivery of meals and ordinary groceries, and discontinuing delivery services unrelated to its e-commerce operations.

Francis Dufay claimed that Temu, which joined the Nigerian market in December, and other companies could enter the African e-commerce sector since it was sufficiently deep.

In nine countries with a combined population of 600 million, including Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, Jumia served 6 million consumers last year.

“They (Temu) are spending a lot of money so they can take a share, but the market is so big it will not hurt our potential to grow,” Dufay said to Reuters.

“There’s room for everyone to grow, even if they take some share of the market.”

Jumia will reduce operating and logistical expenses while growing into new cities and underdeveloped rural regions, according to Dufay.

According to him, the firm wants to reduce its pre-tax deficit by up to a third this year, to between $65 and $70 million.