Ron Johnson, the man who earned acclaim for creating Apple's retail spaces and notoriety for a failed attempt to transform JC Penney's physical stores, is trying his hand at e-commerce.
Next year, Johnson plans to launch Enjoy, a venture that aims to help online shoppers make decisions about new products, particularly items that are expensive and complex, Nasdaq.com reported. Johnson told the website Enjoy will focus on the human aspect of online retail, which he believes Amazon.com and Google overlook.
Few details have are being released about the business, including its valuation. What is known is that Enjoy has raised $30 million from investors that include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Oak Investment Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, the website said.
Former Apple executives Jerry McDougal, a one-time retail vice president at the company, and Tom Suiter, a creative director who worked on Apple Store graphics, will join Johnson at the Menlo Park, California-based Enjoy, the website said. Kunal Malik, who served as Facebook's director of IT for five years, will also join the company.
Under Johnson's leadership between June 2011 and April 2013, JC Penney saw its market cap sink from $6.84 billion to $3.49 billion.
Read the full story at Nasdaq.com.