Gene is joined by Enjoy founder and CEO Ron Johnson, to discuss the once in every 25-year retail paradigm shift to commerce at home, along with Enjoy’s business model and long-term growth opportunity. Enjoy, a Loup portfolio company, is going public via a Marquee Raine SPAC.
This conversation is a continuation of our three-part series rethinking ecommerce, which is based on three premises:
- Ecommerce is just commerce at home. Today, almost all retail transactions involve some digital elements. Shopping now happens on a spectrum between the store and home (e.g., ordering online for in-store pickup). As such, the term ecommerce no longer serves us. What we think of as ecommerce today is better understood as commerce at home. Read more in part 1: Rethinking Ecommerce as Commerce at Home.
- All great retailers focus on convenience or the experiential. Retail succeeds at either end of the spectrum between convenience (speed, selection, self-service) and the experiential (personalized, curated, high-touch). Either can be a great experience. Convenience retailers deliver a great experience by ruthlessly eliminating the need for human interaction. Experiential retailers emphasize human interaction, consultation, and support. Read more in part 2: Convenience vs. the Experiential.
- There is an open opportunity in experiential commerce at home. These two spectrums, store-based vs. commerce at home, and convenience vs. experiential retail, set up a four-box paradigm to consider. Walmart was a pioneer and long-term winner in store-based convenience retail; Amazon delivers that same convenience at home. Apple reinvented experiential retail with services like the Genius Bar, but has struggled to bring that same experience to the home. Conversely, Amazon has established new norms for speed, selection and convince, but has struggled with attempts at the experiential (e.g., TV mounting). This leaves an open opportunity in experiential commerce at home:
We’re investors in Enjoy, a technology company that partners with premium brands, including Apple, to offer a high-touch retail experience in the comfort of home. Think of it as all the best elements of a store coming to you. Enjoy is a pure play on experiential commerce at home.