Kasper Fehrend
E-commerce is a critical revenue channel for enterprises, and any failure in your e-commerce system can have a devastating impact on your business. To avoid downtime and ensure smooth operations, automated e-commerce software testing is essential.
In this post, we’ll cover what you should be testing, the challenges involved, and the solutions that can help you achieve high-quality, automated e-commerce testing.
What is e-commerce software testing?
E-commerce is an essential part of selling and purchasing products and services today. Digital and mobile storefronts, electronic fund transfers, web-based inventory systems, and online marketing are just a few of the many components that make up an e-commerce channel.
Automating the testing of front- and back-end processes can help ensure the robustness and quality of these channels. This involves:
- Ensuring the availability and functionality of your online store from an end-user perspective
- Continuously monitoring the operational status of the entire channel to detect any issues early
The example used in this post is based on a traditional e-commerce setup with a web or mobile application serving as the customer-facing front-end (or ‘storefront’) with integrations to back-office operations, i.e. order management, shipping of goods, etc.
FIGURE 1: An example of e-commerce operations.
When an e-commerce pipeline fails
If digital channels and applications are vital parts of your revenue stream, customer service and/or supply chain management, then it is business critical to be able to monitor and test that transaction flows and business processes work as they should.
From a quality assurance perspective, an e-commerce channel can break in several places. For example, there might be a failure in the integration between the customer facing storefront (e-commerce platform) and the back-office functionalities. This would mean that customers are able to place orders, but these are not handled properly.
The customer has no insight into what goes on behind the scenes, so, unless notified, he/she assumes that the order is being processed and shipped as promised.
In the worst case, the vendor is not made aware of the issue until a customer contacts support about a missing order. This is obviously a bad customer experience and could hurt sales.
FIGURE 2: The e-commerce channel can break at the integration between the storefront and
the back-office functionalities.
A digital channel can also break at the customer-facing touch point, i.e. the e-commerce platform itself. Here are some examples of a broken user experience, ranging from more to less obvious:
- The shop is down. The website returns a 404-error message or is otherwise not operational.
- There are bugs somewhere in the purchase process, e.g. the shopping cart does not update properly, or the digital payment form cannot be filled correctly.
- The information structure of the website is confusing and does not invite visitors to convert to customers.
FIGURE 3: The e-commerce channel can also break at the customer-facing touch-point.
The hidden paths of an e-commerce flow
The transactional flows that make up the e-commerce channel is not necessarily just a linear path as illustrated above. The customer might go back and forth in the checkout process before placing an order, and even after that, the transactional flow might not run smoothly.
For example:
- The chosen payment method might be declined
- The purchased good might turn out not to be in stock as indicated
- The customer might contact support after placing the order to make changes
At each stage of the e-commerce pipeline, there are multiple possible branches for the flow of actions and data. This means that there are potentially hundreds or thousands of combinations of paths from one end of the channel to the other.
Usually, the most obvious and common paths from A to B in an e-commerce channel have been, and are continuously being, tested to make sure they work. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
What about the many, less obvious, user journeys?
They might not represent how the e-commerce channel was intended to be used, but they exist, and they are just as important to verify and maintain as they pose a risk to the customer experience and the revenue stream.
The challenge of the hidden paths as well as the other examples of e-commerce issues outlined above can be solved with the help of automated testing.
Why e-commerce software testing is important
While the most common user journeys—such as a straightforward product selection and checkout process—are often tested thoroughly, that’s only a small part of the overall picture. E-commerce systems are complex, and as we’ve established, transactional flows don’t always follow a simple linear path.
These unpredictable user behaviors create numerous potential paths through an e-commerce platform, introducing hundreds or even thousands of scenarios that could cause bugs or performance issues.
Thorough testing uncovers these vulnerabilities, ensuring the platform is robust enough to handle edge cases without compromising the user experience.
Without comprehensive testing, even a minor issue could lead to cart abandonment, lost revenue, and customer frustration, ultimately harming the business.
Testing mitigates these risks, ensuring a smooth experience across all potential user journeys and safeguarding business success. There are two paths when it comes to testing: manual and automated, which we’ll cover next.
Manual vs. automated e-commerce software testing
Manual testing is a foundational part of any QA process. However, an overreliance on manual testing typically means slower testing, more human errors, and ultimately delayed and buggy releases.
Despite the disadvantages of manual testing, many businesses still rely on it. Here’s why:
- Traditional test automation tools have not always been accessible. Testers need domain knowledge to cover various testing scenarios, but many automation tools require expensive developer resources or upskilling of existing testers. This adds complexity, and the hidden costs of scaling, maintaining, and training can make automation seem out of reach.
- Furthermore, many automation tools don't work end-to-end, meaning businesses may only test one part of their e-commerce ecosystem, leaving interconnected systems (such as inventory management, accounting, or customer databases) untested. This limits the effectiveness of the testing process.
The types of e-commerce test cases you should be automating
To ensure the highest possible quality and robustness of your e-commerce application, prioritize test cases with the "follow the money" rule, which means focusing on transactional flows critical to your revenue stream. Additionally, ensure your automation solution can handle these key scenarios:
1. Front-end regression testing
Automate the testing of the front-end, the customer-facing part of your e-commerce platform. This ensures that critical features like adding items to the cart, filling out forms, and completing purchases work as expected. Automated regression testing helps ensure that the platform functions properly, even after updates to the e-commerce software.
2. End-to-end testing across technologies
Automated end-to-end testing ensures that your entire e-commerce channel, including web shops, CRM systems, and desktop-based order management systems, operates smoothly. This type of testing answers the question: Does our entire channel work seamlessly?
3. Automated application monitoring
Automated monitoring continuously verifies that your e-commerce platform is operational. It identifies issues before customers encounter them, protecting your revenue stream and brand reputation. Monitoring helps you stay updated on the system's real-time performance and spot failures immediately.
Why businesses use Leapwork for e-commerce software testing
Leapwork is an AI-powered, no-code test automation platform that helps businesses:
- Speed up test automation processes for quicker releases of new features.
- Ensure comprehensive test coverage across multiple systems, reducing the risk of bugs.
- Improve operational efficiency by lowering manual testing costs and freeing up resources for strategic projects.
- Achieve unified cross-technology automation across various platforms like POS systems, ERP, CRM, and e-commerce.
By empowering business users with no-code test automation, Leapwork simplifies the testing process, allowing for faster implementation and fewer dependencies on developers.
Learn more about Leapwork for retail in our webinar where we cover the challenges and risks in retail and e-commerce testing, and share actionable strategies to overcome them. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how you can keep your e-commerce operations running smoothly while staying competitive:
LIVE Webinar: Transforming Retail Testing: Schwarz IT's Journey to Superior Customer Experiences