# Page 2 - Molly Burke | Capterra > Page 2 - Senior Specialist Analyst Experience I have been writing content for Capterra since April 2022. I cover technology trends in retail, hospitality, and customer experience.  I’m deeply interested in how technology, automation, and AI are transforming the way customers shop. I focus on software solutions that deliver personalized customer experiences, such as digital signage, scheduling, and appointment scheduling software. I also report on tools that form the data-driven scaffolding behind these experiences, such as help desk, CPG, inventory management, and warehouse management software.  Expertise I strive to help small and midsize businesses make savvy tech investments that help them deliver the increasingly digital and immersive experiences today’s consumers want. This includes nudging software buyers toward adopting the right kind of automation—that which frees employees from spending time and effort on routine tasks, so they can instead focus their creativity and skills on providing exceptional customer experiences.  To do so, I use a combination of proprietary survey research, interviews with industry experts, conversations between Capterra software advisors and software buyers, and thousands of verified software user reviews. I also draw upon the years I’ve spent working in kitchens, writing for ecommerce companies, and utilizing emerging retail and restaurant technology in everyday life as a consumer. My research has been featured in various publications including: The New York Times Adweek Vogue CNBC BBC Education I have a Bachelor of Science degree in nutritional sciences from the University of Texas at Austin. Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/mburke/page-2 --- # /Page 2 - Articles by Molly Burke Molly Burke Follow on[](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollburke) **Senior Specialist Analyst** **Experience** I have been writing content for Capterra since April 2022. I cover technology trends in retail, hospitality, and customer experience.  I’m deeply interested in how technology, automation, and AI are transforming the way customers shop. I focus on software solutions that deliver personalized customer experiences, such as digital signage, scheduling, and appointment scheduling software. I also report on tools that form the data-driven scaffolding behind these experiences, such as help desk, CPG, inventory management, and warehouse management software.  **Expertise** I strive to help small and midsize businesses make savvy tech investments that help them deliver the increasingly digital and immersive experiences today’s consumers want. This includes nudging software buyers toward adopting the right kind of automation—that which frees employees from spending time and effort on routine tasks, so they can instead focus their creativity and skills on providing exceptional customer experiences.  To do so, I use a combination of proprietary survey research, interviews with industry experts, conversations between Capterra software advisors and software buyers, and thousands of verified software user reviews. I also draw upon the years I’ve spent working in kitchens, writing for ecommerce companies, and utilizing emerging retail and restaurant technology in everyday life as a consumer. My research has been featured in various publications including: - The New York Times - Adweek - Vogue - CNBC - BBC **Education** I have a Bachelor of Science degree in nutritional sciences from the University of Texas at Austin. [Online Shopping is Due for an Overhaul—Can AI Agents Help? Published June 12, 2024 According to many consumers, the abundance of choice has actually made shopping online more inconvenient. Capterra’s 2024 Elusive Online Consumer Survey of over 5,500 consumers across 12 countries reveals that the large amount of inaccurate, irrelevant, and sponsored search results is a major challenge consumers face when shopping online.\*](https://www.capterra.com/resources/retail-ai-agents/)[TikTok Engagement Eclipses Meta for SMBs: How Small Brands Are Getting Views in 2024 Published 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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/tiktok-marketing/)[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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/holiday-retail-trends/)[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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/retail-generative-ai/)[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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/retail-hiring-challenges/)[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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/tip-fatigue/)[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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/retail-app-sprawl/)[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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/retail-chatbots/)[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.](https://www.capterra.com/resources/dynamic-pricing-for-restaurants/)[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).](https://www.capterra.com/resources/amazon-holiday-fulfillment-fee/) Page 2 of 3