Ron Johnson, a former executive at Apple and former CEO at J.C. Penney, has launched his own business, a new online retail service called ENJOY, which launched Wednesday (May 6) in the San Francisco Bay area and New York City.
The platform acts as a personal commerce platform, “built to revolutionize the way people buy and enjoy the world’s best technology products,” according to the company’s press release. ENJOY’s “experts” will hand deliver selective high tech products, and aid in setting up the product free of charge.
“ENJOY was founded on the simple premise that people need help and we believe that a human connection is the best way to help them,” said Johnson, according to the release. “With ENJOY, we’re delivering the first Personal Commerce platform, offering an entirely new way for customers to buy products and for our employees, an entirely new way to work.”
If a customer buys a GoPro, for instance, the hourlong set up will include delivery as well as assistance in creating, editing and sharing the customer’s first movie. The service will also offer an ENJOY expert visit to those who already own a technology product for a fee of $99.
“We’re moving into a world of a connected life and it’s time to move the personal services to where you live your life. So ENJOY is a personal commerce platform,” Johnson told CNBC.
The company also seeks to be innovative from within; the 60 experts currently employed by ENJOY have benefits and equity in the company and can work according to their own schedules.
“We believe people today want the freedom to work when and where they choose, but that they also deserve the promises and security of a salaried position,” Johnson said in the company press release.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Johnson’s strategy, which was already partly revealed end of last year, is to keep a small inventory, instead relying on its partners to supply the devices as needed. WSJ also reports that the new startup will profit from the difference in wholesale prices it negotiated and what customers pay. The products, which start at a price point of $200, include smartphones, laptops, speakers, tablets, drones, urban bikes with motors and even electric longboards.
Johnson initially announced the service in November, and at that time said that ENJOY had raised $30 million from several prominent venture capitalists such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, and Oak Investment Partners, according to CNET. The platform’s partners include AT&T, Boosted, DJI, GoPro, HP, Lenovo, Sonos and Specialized Bicycle.
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