Driving Frontline Efficiency and Customer Experiences in Retail: Retail Legends

 

On this episode of Retail Legends, host Nicole Leinbach Reyhle was joined by Brett Patrontasch, co-founder of mobile-based workforce management app Shyft, and Astound Chief Experience Officer Andrew Leibowitz.

Patrontasch and Reyhle spoke at length about how Shyft is working to engage hourly staff members and drive frontline efficiency for retailers.

Specifically, Patrontasch highlighted how Shyft aims to help retail associates cover shifts when challenges present themselves, consolidating a solution that helps these workers solve work-related problems in one convenient, easy-to-use location.

“When we started the company, there was a real need for hourly workers to have tools that were built for them. … We said, ‘Hey, we have to provide and build a solution that can help them solve (traditional challenges associated with shift coverage),’” Patrontasch said.

“People need to have an intuitive experience where they can just take their phone out of their pocket, fill a shift and show up and hour or two later or the next day,” he said.

This ease also optimizes time and resource management for employers, helping them optimize labor management and reduce absenteeism and other barriers to success.

While Shyft aims to bring a frictionless experience to the retail workforce’s experience, Astound and Leibowitz want to provide the same on a larger scale.

Leibowitz draws from a career in architecture, leveraging that experience to help Astound provide innovative, exciting customer experiences.

“It’s so interesting, because what I’m seeing (at NRF 2020) is a completely divided retail universe. … On one half are retailers of all stripes and brands that totally get it, that are dialed in, and where innovation is their groundwater that they drink every day,” he said. “It’s not something that’s on a list that they have to do. They are seeing a new world of commerce. And on the other side are the ones who are fighting it.”

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Retail Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Energy
Buy, Build & AI: Your New Software Strategy for Energy Leaders
February 3, 2026

Energy companies are running into a hard truth: the old “buy vs. build” debate no longer fits today’s reality—especially as AI moves from experiment to expectation. A modern software strategy must now account for cloud-native, modular ecosystems, where open APIs, integrations, and AI-ready interfaces determine how quickly teams can launch, adapt, and scale. Early…

Read More
filmmaking
Lights, Camera, Authenticity: Why Trusting Your Voice Is the Most Radical Move in Filmmaking Today
February 3, 2026

The entertainment industry is at a crossroads, where questions of access, authorship, and technological disruption are reshaping who gets to tell stories—and how those stories get made. From the rise of AI-assisted tools to ongoing conversations about representation and gatekeeping, filmmaking today is as much about identity and equity as it is about craft….

Read More
AI in energy
May the Agentforce Be With You: AI in Energy Services
February 3, 2026

Generative AI has moved past being a shiny demo and into the messy reality of enterprise operations—where data lives in different systems, customers expect instant answers, and security teams (rightfully) say “prove it.” In energy services specifically, even small efficiency gains matter: many retail energy providers operate on thin margins, and operational blind spots—billing…

Read More
Energy billing
Nightmare on Revenue Street: Energy Billing Edition
February 3, 2026

Energy billing is one of those things most people only think about when something goes wrong—an unusually high charge, a missing bill, a surprise shutoff notice, or a rate plan that suddenly doesn’t make sense. With smart meters, more complex pricing options, and different rules in regulated vs. deregulated markets, even a small breakdown…

Read More