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Delivery startup Enjoy today filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), less than one year after raising over $250 million in growth capital and going public on the stock market.

Enjoy-Technology-Apple.jpeg

Founded by Apple's former retail chief Ron Johnson, Enjoy provided what it called a "commerce-at-home experience" with at-home delivery and setup of tech products. In select U.S. cities, customers ordering Apple products through Apple's online store or the Apple Store app could choose "Delivery with Setup" during checkout and have an Enjoy employee deliver and set up the products at their home, free of charge.

In an earlier SEC filing, Enjoy said it would be pausing at-home delivery and setup of Apple products in the U.S. beginning July 1 in order to "focus on its business priorities." Given the bankruptcy filing, it is unclear if or when the partnership will resume.

Johnson joined Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail Operations in 2000 and helped to pioneer the concept of the Apple Store and the Genius Bar. He left Apple in 2011 to become CEO of retail chain JCPenney, but the company struggled financially under his leadership and he was fired in 2013, one year before he founded Enjoy.

Article Link: Apple Stores Will No Longer Offer 'Delivery With Setup' as Enjoy Files for Bankruptcy
 
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Very bad time for home set up during CV19 and probably faced a significant down turn as fewer people wanted strangers in their house.

I had no idea this service was free. Probably would have considered....but I dont need much help setting up a laptop and maybe that was the problem.
 
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The home setup service, in concept, has some potential as an add-on (and an additional, small revenue stream).

There are segments of the customer base (not us) who need the setup to ensure they are not misconfiguring things from the get-go. The existing 'scheduling a session' with an Apple expert relies on a new user making it that far. I could see this as something Apple could offer - for a fee - at checkout, replacing the third party.
 
"In an earlier SEC filing, Enjoy said it would be pausing at-home delivery and setup of Apple products in the U.S. beginning July 1 in order to "focus on its business priorities."


Unless the article is missing key information, at home delivery and setup of Apple products was the business priority. Stopping doing the core business activity is not what I would call focussing.
 
Ron has been an easy target since leaving Apple. I get why. Still, his JC Penny concept was really interesting and progressive and could have positioned JC Penny for a more viable future. It was a bigger, long-term vision that appears neither the company, nor it's audience, could see. Their crack-like dependency on couponing wouldn't allow them to see beyond said coupons. That all struck me more right idea, wrong retailer - which is problematic as the CEO.

His in-home-delivery-and-setup concept is also super interesting. I can see why it garnered the VC funding it did. But man, the timing of a global pandemic did the opposite of helping the concept. I follow this stuff fairly closely and today is the first time I've heard about it. Oops. Too bad. Had potential.
 
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The home setup service, in concept, has some potential as an add-on (and an additional, small revenue stream).

There are segments of the customer base (not us) who need the setup to ensure they are not misconfiguring things from the get-go. The existing 'scheduling a session' with an Apple expert relies on a new user making it that far. I could see this as something Apple could offer - for a fee - at checkout, replacing the third party.

But that segment of the population needing this type of assistance is getting smaller and smaller.... Its primarily now the oldest generation that didn't grow up with any digital technology. Most people 40 and under have basically lived on it since an early age. 15 and under don't know a world without iPhones.

I would also think that the population that most needs the help is a lot less likely to buy new hardware year after year. I know my parents don't want to consider buying iPhones because they'd have to learn something new, even though they've had multiple iPads over the years. Offering them setup isn't going to push them into buying the device.
 
"In an earlier SEC filing, Enjoy said it would be pausing at-home delivery and setup of Apple products in the U.S. beginning July 1 in order to "focus on its business priorities."


Unless the article is missing key information, at home delivery and setup of Apple products was the business priority. Stopping doing the core business activity is not what I would call focussing.

Just a fancy way of saying "we out."
 
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raise $250mm and less than a year later declare bankruptcy? What happened to that money? That’s a lot of burn in under a year for what sounds like a small business.
Exactly. Shady! Could have paid $100M+ to "contractors" and "suppliers" for services but was really just funneling the money into insider's pockets. We may never know!
 
I spent some time at Enjoy, started out amazing and had some great ideas but then became riddled with communication and sales problems. They usually made a fee or kickback from their partners as their strategy was to push other products/services (AT&T) or push to sell cases and accessories (Apple).

On one hand very convenient and personal - trained to be kind and personal - especially if they came to your home or office/coffee shop. But for those that wanted a drop-off and didn't understand what they signed up for ended up feeling more pushy.

Their mindset always seemed to be "no big deal" we'll just raise more capital. Guess that caught up with them.
 
Never heard of this. No wonder it went bankrupt.
They aggressively targeted Apple Store employees. I worked at Apple back 6-7 years ago, and a bunch of my team left to work at Enjoy. They basically enticed them with similar pay but no weekends or late nights (at least the people that I knew who left). I also never saw the business model working long term, so much travel involved to setup someone's iPad, and the revenue never seemed to be there either.
 
People are this dumb and lazy? I can’t think of one Apple products which need anyone’s help for setting up.

And this was free of charge? Businesses not knowing how to make money will always fail. Can’t imagine Apple paying that much to this company either.

Just read manuals for god’s sake. People can’t focus 10 minutes to read manuals?
 
Ron Johnson just doesn't seem to have success outside of what he did with Steve Jobs at Apple.
Makes you wonder who the true mastermind was. When this guy left Target, nothing changed for the worse.
But when he went and did the JCPenney rebrand... and this Enjoy...

Yikes.
 
Penny was struggling before Ron joined them. That’s why they were looking for a new ceo. They’ve had several, and none helped. The original came back some time ago after Ron left, and he hasn’t made much of a difference either.

But a problem for ceos who have enjoyed success at one company as a division chief, is that they didn’t have to make company wide decisions before, and often, this new responsibility is too much. Unfortunately for Ron and his employees, Enjoy ran into Covid, then shortages, then the Ukraine war, then more shortages and inflation causes by the shortages. I’m not sure it ever had a chance, even assuming it was a good idea, which was something I doubted, as companies like his have never succeeded.
 
raise $250mm and less than a year later declare bankruptcy? What happened to that money? That’s a lot of burn in under a year for what sounds like a small business.
I've seen Chapter 11 up close & personal. The golden parachute is a real thing.
When companies fold, everyone suffers with the disruption to their ability to provide for themselves and/or their families except for the C-suite. It's baked into their contracts. Should the company opt to file for Ch.11, they stand to receive and incredible payout. Actually profiting from the filing. Then they move on to the next leadership position under the same, risk-free, pretense. Again, this is a real aspect of (at least) corporate America (I assume elsewhere). And it's sickening.

I have to imagine it's the same thing with Enjoy: the execs walk away from this failed experience richer than when they entered. It's boggling. Easily one of the biggest problems upon which the entire corporate structure is built.
 
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