How to Test an Ecommerce Applications

Details: Last Updated: 04 October 2018

Setting up an E-commerce system is a complex process and subject to many market specific variables. To maintain the integrity of the E commerce system, testing becomes compulsory. It helps in the prevention of errors and adds value to the product by ensuring conformity to client requirements.

The objective of testing is to ensure

Software reliability
Software quality
System Assurance
Optimum performance and capacity utilization

In this tutorial we will learn,

Types of Testing for E-commerce System
Performance testing- a top priority in E-commerce
Useful Tools for Mapping E-commerce Site
Challenges of E-commerce Testing

Types of Testing for E-commerce System

Common type of testing included into e commerce system are

Sr.#	Type of Testing	Testing Process
1	Browser compatibility	Lack of support for early browsers Browser specific extensions Browser testing should cover main platforms ( Linux, Windows, Mac etc.)
2	Page display	Incorrect display of pages Runtime error messages Poor page download time Dead hyperlink, plugin dependency, font sizing, etc.
3	Session Management	Session expiration Session storage
4	Usability	Non-intuitive design Poor site navigation Catalog navigation Lack of help-support
5	Content Analysis	Misleading, offensive and litigious content Royalty free images and copyright infringement Personalization functionality Availability 24/7
6	Availability	Denial of service attacks Unacceptable levels of unavailability
7	Back-up and Recovery	Failure or fall over recovery Backup failure Fault tolerance
8	Transactions	Transaction Integrity Throughput Auditing
9	Shopping order processing and purchasing	Shopping cart functionality Order processing Payment processing Order tracking
10	Internationalization	Language support Language display Cultural sensitivity Regional Accounting
11	Operational business procedures	How well e-procedure copes Observe for bottlenecks
12	System Integration	Data Interface format Interface frequency and activation Updates Interface volume capacity Integrated performance
13	Performance	Performance bottlenecks Load handling Scalability analysis
14	Login and Security	Login capability Penetration and access control Insecure information transmission Web attacks Computer viruses Digital signatures

Performance testing- a top priority in E-commerce

Just delay about 250 milliseconds of a page load time, is what keeps your customer going to your competitor. Retail giant Walmart overhaul their site speed and noticed an increase of 2% in visitor's conversion rate and revenue by 1%.

Performance of your site depends on this factors

Throughput
- Request per second
- Transactions per minute
- Executions per click
Response Time
- Duration of a task
- Seconds per click
- Page Load
- DNS Lookup
- Length of time between click and seeing page

Useful Tools for Mapping E-commerce Site

Concept Feedback: Post your website and get feedback from experts
ClickHeat: It shows the most clicked and unclicked zones of sites by visitors
FiveSecondTest: This tool ensures that your message is communicated as effectively as possible, in just five seconds it tells what a person recalls about your website design
Feedback Army: For your e commerce site it start a usability test by submitting questions about your site and receiving 10 responses from reviewers
Feng-GUI: It simulates the human vision during first five seconds and predicts what a real human would most likely look at
Optimizely: It enables you to test track, clicks, conversions or anything else that matters to e-commerce business

Challenges of E-commerce Testing

Compliance with security guidelines to safeguard customer data and identity
Compliance with accessibility standards to support multi-lingual markets and business regions
End to end testing and test management for large e-commerce transformation programs
Scalability and reliability of applications

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