Some Of The Most Important Aspects of Testing E-Commerce Websites

These days it’s hard to find someone who isn’t shopping online. From modest openings, e-commerce firms have taken the consumer market by storm from the last decade. This is mirrored by the overall growth of Internet sales, which now account for a probable 15.5% of consumer spending as a whole (up from just 3% at the end of 2006).

The growth of companies such as Flipkart and Amazon also represents the evolution that has taken place within the e-commerce marketplace, with experts expecting that online sales could signify a third of all consumer expenses within the next decade.

In case of e-commerce business, the better the site is, the better the business will be.

E-commerce sites/applications are mobile applications or web applications too. That is why eCommerce testing would undergo different types of phases, such as:

•    Usability Testing
•    Performance Testing
•    Database Testing test
•    Security Testing
•    Mobile Application Testing
•    Functional Testing

Segments of Testing E-commerce Websites:

Search Algorithms: Searching Algorithms are very significant to make the retail site a Success.

Some common tests are:

•   Search based on Product or brand name or something larger, the category. For example TV, electronics, etc.
•   For multipage results, Are there any options to navigate them?
•   How many results should be displayed as per image?
•   Search results should be related.
•   Sort options or filters should be available like high to low price, low to high, Brands, etc.
•   Search also should have filters or category. So that if we choose a specific category, it should show the results within that specific category.

Home Page --> Main Image: For the growth of a retail site, search algorithms are very significant because sometimes it is hard to place what users want to see in front of their eyes.

Few things to test are:

•   Is auto-scroll Available?
•   If yes, then how much it will take to refresh the image?
•   If a user hovers over the image, will he be redirected to the next image?
•   Is it possible to hover on?
•   Can it be clicked on?
•   If yes, is it redirecting the user to the right page or right deal?
•   Is it loading with the page or after the loading of the page?
•   Can a user see the rest of the content?
•   Is it working the same way in different browsers and in different screen resolutions?

Product Detail Page: Now, if a user finds a product either through search or by browsing on it from the homepage, the user will redirect to the product information page.

Some points to check are:

•    Is an image of the product is clear or blur?
•    Is the right price of the product is mentioned?
•    Are the specifications of the product are written correctly?
•    If the user can redirect to reviews by clicking it?
•    If the Delivery option is there?
•    Shipping information should be displayed.
•    In stock/Out stock text should be written right with the product image.
•    There should be multiple color options and Size images.

Shopping Cart: This is the next to the last stage before the user decides to purchase.

We should test the following steps:

•   Add items to the cart and resume shopping Again.
•   If the user adds the same item to the cart while continuing to shop, the item count in the shopping cart should    get incremented.
•   Items that are selected, their total and images should be displayed.
•   Taxes should be applied as per the location.
•   Update the contents added to the cart- total should reflect that.
•   If a user can remove items from the cart?
•   Check different shipping options by selecting them.
•   Apply Coupons.
•   Now close the site and come back later. The site should retain the same items in the shopping cart.

Payments:

Steps to check are:

•   Check if there are different payment options.
•   Allow guests to check out after purchase and provide an option to register or make an account.
•   When storing customer Credit card or any other financial information, security testing should be performed around this to make sure it is secure. (PCI compliance is a must).
•   If user is logged in for a long time making sure that the session is timed out. Every site has a different starting point. For some sites, it is 15 minutes but for some, it might be different.
•   An order confirmation with the order no. should be generated.

Featured or Recommended Products:

The most important thing is to check the dynamic products populated on the main page of the site.

Since these are recommended products, the best way to test these parts of the application is to test the algorithm on which these populated sections are based. Check from the back-end the queries that populate these sections.

After order tests:

Check if

1)  If user can change the order.

2)  If user can cancel the order.

3)  If user can track the order.

4)  Returns

Other Tests:

1) If user can login.

2) FAQs

3) Check the contact written below contact us page.

4) To check the customer service

Conclusion:

The most important part of E-commerce testing is whether visiting customers are converting into paying customers. The number of visits that are becoming the customer is called “Conversion Rate”. So does one feature endorse better change as opposed to another, is important testing. That is why A/B testing and Usability Engineering for E-Commerce sites are gaining fame.

Also Read: Case Study on Manual Testing of Real Estate Website