<bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Welcome to another edition of Insider Retail.</p><p>This week, the biggest retail news/business news/just plain news-news has to be Jeff Bezos stepping down as CEO of Amazon. Our colleagues on the tech desk p<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-jassy-amazon-web-services-ceo-2021-1">rofiled his successor, Andy Jassy</a>, just days before the announcement. <a href="https://twitter.com/ajs/status/1356711773202755586">Are they prophetic,'</a> Who's to say. </p><p>On the retail team, we're keeping our eye on what Jassy, the head of Amazon Web Services, will bring to Amazon's retail endeavors. And by "endeavors" we mean huge, industry-shaping projects like Amazon Go, Whole Foods, and the purchasing of anything and everything online. </p><p>But for now, we've highlighted two of our favorite non-Amazon stories this week. We took a look at how razor makers are begrudgingly embracing the pandemic beard. And we profiled the latest player in the anti-DoorDash cottage industry. </p><p>Was this email forwarded to you' <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/free">Subscribe here</a> to get me, Gloria Dawson, editor of the retail desk, and my colleague Danni Santana in your inbox.</p><h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-razors-arent-center-stage-at-gillette-and-schick-2021-2"><strong>As the shaving wars heat up, Schick and Gillette are catering to pandemic beards and competing with men's skincare startups</strong></a></h2><p><strong><img src="https://static2.businessinsider.com/image/601afb82ee136f00183aa211-2400/GettyImages-578766196.jpg" border="0" alt="Schick robot" data-mce-source="Araya Doheny/Getty"></strong></p><p>Underneath those facemasks, more men are sporting pandemic beards and mustaches. What's a razor company to do' Schick and Gillette, the top razor makers in the US, are finally thinking beyond the blade and adding products like skincare, shave balms, and a stubble eraser.</p><p>But there's a ton of competition from upstarts, our Senior Reporter Alex Bitter finds. Plenty of direct-to-consumer companies have been delivering niche shaving and facial hair care products for years. Big razor brands are now scrambling.</p><p>More from the front lines of the shaving wars:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/edgewell-schick-new-grooming-skin-care-line-2021-2">Schick Hydro's relaunch</a> shifts the second-largest razor brand from shaving to grooming, as men's skincare has 'dramatically' changed, CEO says </li><li>Edgewell, maker of Schick, also makes feminine products. These products (surprise!) are also facing competition from DTCs. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/edgewell-almost-sold-playtex-and-stayfree-decided-to-keep-them-2021-1">Here's how the CEO is tackling that. </a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-harrys-wants-to-acquire-brands-after-nearly-being-acquired-2020-">Razor maker Harry's CEO explains why it's on the acquisition hunt</a> and getting into cat food after its hopes of being acquired by Schick's parent company fell through</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pg-to-grow-gillette-business-focusing-on-men-with-beards-2020-10">How P&G is transforming its grooming business</a> to compete with Harry's and rival Unilever's Dollar Shave Club</li></ul><h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flower-delivery-company-bloomnation-expands-to-pizza-alcohol-2021-2">After bringing 3,000 brick-and-mortar florists online, BloomNation just raised $11 million to give pizzerias and liquor stores the power to bypass DoorDash</a></h2><p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/601b087bee136f00183aa26e-1137/300150_0018_ReSize.jpeg" border="0" alt="Farbod Shoraka Gregg Weisstein BloomNation Promenade" data-mce-source="Courtesy of BloomNation"></p><p>Tensions between restaurant owners and third-party delivery partners are at an all-time high. During the pandemic, restaurants have had to rely more on these companies and have had to pay as much as 30% in fees to use them. But a cottage industry has popped up to help restaurants fight back against the DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats of the world. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flower-delivery-company-bloomnation-expands-to-pizza-alcohol-2021-2">BloomNation has now entered the ring.</a></p><p>Wait, the guys who built a marketplace for florists' Yup. Here's how they explain the move:</p><p>"We realized during this whole pandemic that these small businesses outside of floral also need this help, and they've traditionally not had the resources to do that."</p><p>Meet other players in the alternative-to-DoorDash space: </p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/food-tech-startup-lunchbox-helps-restaurants-reclaim-digital-sales-2020-12">Food tech startup Lunchbox</a>, backed by $20 million in VC funding, has launched two anti-Grubhub ordering sites for restaurants</li><li>Looking to outclass DoorDash and Grubhub, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crave-hospitality-to-build-chef-driven-virtual-food-halls-across-2021-1">food tech startup Crave Hospitality</a> is combining fine-dining chefs and waiters with ghost kitchens</li><li>As delivery exploded during the pandemic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/food-tech-startups-offer-restaurants-alternatives-to-doordash-grubhub-2020-12">these 5 startups offered restaurants alternatives to DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, and their hefty fees</a></li></ul><p><strong>Elsewhere in retail:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/7-fitness-industry-ma-deals-and-trends-to-watch-for-2021-2">7 fitness industry deals and big trends</a> experts are predicting this year</li><li>Leaked documents reveal <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-finally-fixing-soft-serve-machines-with-new-tech-2021-2">McDonald's is finally working to fix its faulty soft-serve machines</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roz-brewer-walgreens-ceo-career-sams-club-starbucks-2021-1">Walgreens' new CEO Roz Brewer rose to become the only Black woman running a Fortune 500.</a> Now she faces her toughest challenge yet: helming the struggling pharmacy retailer's vaccine distribution.</li><li>Independent restaurants banded together to survive the pandemic. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-independent-restaurant-coalition-cointreau-will-run-super-bowl-ad-2021-2">Now they've teamed up with Cointreau for a Super Bowl ad to raise relief awareness.</a></li><li>Impossible Foods is on a quest to undercut the price of meat. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/impossible-foods-cuts-grocery-prices-after-growing-presence-in-store-2021-2">Here's how they're using direct sales data.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marriott-hilton-hyatt-executives-business-travel-future-2021-1">Executives at Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt say business travelers are crucial to their survival.</a> Here's what they're doing to bring them back to hotels.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/razor-brands-get-into-skincare-bloomnation-starts-anti-doordash-platform-2021-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-expensive-liquid-thoroughbred-horse-semen-2020-3">Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid</a></p>
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