/ Articles by Molly Burke
Molly Burke is a senior analyst and writer for Capterra. I cover customer experience and marketing in the retail and restaurant industries, with a focus on how emerging technology is transforming the way everyday people shop. My research helps business owners make software investment decisions that will help them navigate the ever-shifting retail landscape.
My insights on generative AI, social media, and other tech trends have been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, BBC, CNBC, Forbes, and the Financial Times, among other publications.
TikTok Engagement Eclipses Meta for SMBs: How Small Brands Are Getting Views in 2024
Published January 5, 2023; Modified January 24, 2024
Over the past year, TikTok has further expanded its user base in the U.S. and rolled out an in-app eCommerce marketplace, offering new ways to capitalize on the most fruitful social media discovery algorithm for small businesses.
Capterra’s 2024 Tech Trends Report: How Retailers Can Avoid Regrettable Software Purchases
Published January 9, 2023; Modified October 27, 2023
Capterra’s 2024 Tech Trends Survey shows that too many retailers are falling victim to software buyer’s regret—in fact, nearly half of retailers globally regret one or more software purchases from the past year.*
Small Retailers Launch More Holiday Deals and Lean on AI Amid A Projected Rise in Returns
Published September 25, 2023
According to Capterra's Annual Holiday Retail Preparations Survey, small to midsize retailers are looking forward to a profitable holiday season and plan to launch more deals even earlier than they did in 2022.* However, they also expect to deal with more returns than last year, and will lean on generative AI tools to add efficiency and personalization to their holiday strategies.
Generative AI Will Transform eCommerce—If Consumers Can Tolerate Privacy Risks
Published August 22, 2023
Following the meteoric rise of ChatGPT, consumers are cautiously entering a new era of personalized online shopping driven by artificial intelligence (AI)–with serious data privacy concerns in tow.
86% of SMB Retailers Say Hiring is More Challenging in 2023, Blaming Competition and Lack of Skilled Candidates
Published July 18, 2023
Recent wage increases by retail giants such as Home Depot and Walmart have made hiring workers an even bigger headache for growing businesses. To get the full picture of today’s brutal retail labor market, we surveyed 300 retail business leaders. We found that 86% of SMB retailers—either small (with two to 100 employees) or midsize (101 to 1,000 employees)—believe attracting frontline workers is more challenging now than this time last year; 85% say hiring managers is tougher now, too.
70% of Consumers Are Tired of Tipping and It's Pushing Your Most Valuable Customers Away: Here's How to Respond
Published July 6, 2023
Consumers are fed up with being asked to leave a tip every time they buy something—which now includes not just food and drinks, but retail goods, gasoline, event tickets, and more.
More Money, More App Sprawl Problems: The Impact of Software Sprawl on Retail SMBs and How to Prevent It
Published May 9, 2023
The struggle to contain an overflowing tech stack is usually framed as an enterprise problem, with massive budgets and thousands of employees driving a company’s software subscriptions through the roof. But new Capterra research indicates that app sprawl is pervasive among small to midsize businesses (SMBs), too.
Most Consumers Think Traditional Chatbots Are Bad at Their Jobs. Could Conversational AI Be The Solution?
Published April 10, 2023
The average customer support chatbot in the retail industry has a ways to go before it can keep pace with human customer service agents, let alone replace them. Without the ability to handle nuance, traditional chatbots tend to frustrate customers and business owners alike.
Dynamic Pricing Leads to Serious Losses: Busting the Top 3 Myths Surrounding This Emerging Tech
Published February 27, 2023
According to some experts, the latest salve for the cash-strapped restaurant industry is dynamic pricing. Adoption of dynamic pricing tools is expected to climb in other industries—in fact, Gartner predicts that the top 10 global retailers will leverage the technology by 2025.
Small Businesses Look to Walmart, eBay as Amazon Tests Patience With Holiday Fee Hikes
Published December 8, 2022
Amazon has again raised fees for its third-party sellers, in response to the rising cost of eCommerce logistics. This time, it’s through a new holiday peak fulfillment fee for Fulfillment by Amazon (also known as FBA, Amazon’s sprawling in-house fulfillment service that makes Prime same-to-two-day delivery possible).
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