Enjoy is a new startup company that adds a bit of personal touch to a customer's buying experience. At Enjoy, customers shop online for a desired gadget, wait for an expert to deliver his purchase and then get a hands-on tutorial on the device without having to pay extra.
Enjoy is the brainchild of Ron Johnson, a former Apple retail guru. He joined Apple back in 2000 as the company's senior VP of retail operations. He was the person behind the company's significant growth in the brick and mortar retail industry. His credits include expanding the company's retail revenue and playing a central role in the customers' shopping experience.
In 2011, Johnson became the CEO of J.C. Penney. This time however, Johnson's retail leadership didn't seem aligned with the store's previous strategy. Two years later, he was then replaced by Mike Ullman.
"It was just a bad fit," says Johnson. "They should have known it, and I should have known it. I spent a few months afterwards just being of service to others, but I soon realized I was excited by the start-up culture. After my time at J.C. Penney, I said I'm just going to take a year and make myself available to friends or friends of friends who want to learn from some of my experience."
As Johnson fulfilled that statement, his conversations with people led him to realize a new kind of shopping experience. Johnson learned that there's a need for a company to deliver a more personal and comfortable shopping experience and to create an opportunity for people to understand better their purchased products. Towards the end of 2013, he started recruiting people for his team.
"The key was hiring people who just love to help people," says Johnson. "From here, we'll just take it one customer at a time."
Johnson had successfully raised $30 million from a number of prominent venture capitalists. These include Oak Investment Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Some of the investment at Enjoy also came from his own pocket.
The money was used to help build the company's team of technology experts. They are salaried employees and work according to their personally determined schedule. Customers can expect for a delivery in the morning, afternoon and night.
Initially, Enjoy will retail around 50 items which would range from an iPhone to drones, Sonos all-in-one speakers, and high-tech skateboards. The home visit service will be available only in parts of New York City and in the San Francisco Bay Area although hopefully it will also expand to more areas in the future.
