Ex-Apple retail boss Ron Johnson launches Enjoy e-commerce site, with personal delivery and in-home setup service at no cost
Former Apple Retail Boss Ron Johnson Unwraps New Web Startup ‘Enjoy’ — Ron Johnson, the former Apple retail chief who was ousted as J.C. Penney's boss two years ago …
Context & Ripple Effects
Two years after being ousted from J.C. Penney, former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson is back with Enjoy, an e-commerce site that gives away what electronics stores charge for: personal delivery and in-home setup, betting that white-glove service can be the storefront for online gadget sales. The launch sits alongside his other 2015 bet, leading a $16M investment in Nasty Gal, both attempts to rebuild his retail record after Apple.
The capital markets initially endorsed the model — Enjoy followed this debut with a $50M round led by Highland Capital within months — though the fuller arc matters: the company later reached a SPAC merger at a $1.6B valuation talk-stage before ultimately filing for bankruptcy and selling to Asurion.
First-order effects
- Consumers buying devices through Enjoy now get free personal delivery plus an expert who sets the product up at home — service previously bundled inside carrier and big-box stores becomes a no-cost acquisition hook.
- Ron Johnson converts his Apple retail credentials into a founder narrative, with Enjoy positioned as the direct test of whether his in-store Genius-style service travels to e-commerce.
Second-order effects
- Carriers and consumer-electronics retailers lose their differentiator if setup is free online, forcing them to justify store visits on something beyond installation help.
- Venture capital validates the thesis quickly — Highland Capital's $50M bet months after launch signals investor appetite for service-wrapped hardware commerce, raising the bar for rival at-home-setup entrants.
Third-order effects
- Enjoy's trajectory — from free-service launch through a $350M total raise and a SPAC-era valuation peak to bankruptcy and sale to warranty provider Asurion — suggests the durable home was not standalone e-commerce but the device-protection and services stack, where labor-intensive setup economics could be subsidized.
- If the pattern holds, 'retail as a service' startups built on executive brand equity face a structural ceiling: the model survives when absorbed by companies that already own the customer relationship over the device's life, rather than as independent storefronts.
The trend: Service-wrapped e-commerce ventures led by marquee retail executives attract heavy capital on the promise of replicating Apple's store experience, but the economics push them toward consolidation into device-lifecycle service providers like Asurion.