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

Texas energy
Small Margins, Big Risks: How Fraud Hurts Texas Energy Retailers
January 6, 2026

Fraud has quietly become one of the most existential threats in Texas’s deregulated retail electricity market—because the business runs on razor-thin margins and delayed payment. Under the non-POR system overseen by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), retail energy providers assume the full risk of nonpayment. With profit margins often measured in just a…

Read More
learning
From 30 to 1,500 Students: Scaling Mass Experiential Learning with How to Change the World
January 5, 2026

Higher education is at a crossroads. Institutions are being asked to do more with less—serve more students, prepare them for a rapidly changing, AI-shaped workforce, and prove the real-world value of a degree—all at the same time. Employers consistently note that while graduates are technically capable, many struggle to apply what they’ve learned to…

Read More
What the Future Looks Like if We Get It Right
What the Future Looks Like if We Get It Right
December 30, 2025

As the Patient Monitoring series concludes, the conversation shifts from today’s challenges to tomorrow’s possibilities. This final episode of the five-part Health and Life Sciences at the Edge series looks ahead to what healthcare could become if patient monitoring gets it right. Intel’s Kaeli Tully is joined by Sudha Yellapantula, Senior Researcher at Medical…

Read More
data center infrastructure
AI Is Forcing a Rethink of Data Center Infrastructure at Every Level
December 29, 2025

The data center industry is being redefined by AI’s demand for faster, denser, and more scalable infrastructure. According to McKinsey, average rack power densities have more than doubled in just two years. It went from approximately 8 kW to 17 kW, and is expected to hit 30 kW by 2027. Global data center power demand is projected…

Read More