Browsing through products in online stores and ordering them online is just one facet of e-commerce. E-commerce is a multifaceted way of conducting business online. Both B to C and B to B businesses use and rely on e-commerce these days. In fact e-commerce is driving changes in the traditional market and giving rise to new trends.
The changing trends are reflected in almost every sphere of business. Online fund transfer, digital marketing, integrated inventory management, supply chain management etc are some of the examples of e-commerce applications that have changed the face of business permanently. All these ecommerce applications have contributed significantly to transparency in day to day activities of businesses, real time inventory management, finances etc in a B2B environment. In the B2C front e-commerce applications have made life easier and even less expensive in some cases.
Here, are a few reasons why its important to test an e-commerce application:
1) Customer Friendly Designs and Features
In a B2C environment you need extreme customer friendly designs and features in e-commerce applications. However, such designs and features may sometime be at odds with the functionality of the site. This is more so because e-commerce websites may need to handle huge amounts of traffic for certain period of time followed by certain periods of lull. So it’s important that you test the functionality of a site when the traffic goes up very high. You need to see that it retains the functionality at extreme level of traffic and at the same time have customer friendly designs and features.
2) Different Browsers
E-commerce sites are loaded with JavaScript plug-ins, rich images, social media integration, product description, informative videos etc. These are the features that enhance customer experience and help visitors convert to customers. These sites are opened in multiple browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera etc. The developers need to ensure that the site offers a smooth experience to the customer irrespective of the browser that he or she is using. So, testing of ecommerce sites and applications should be a continuous process as any glitch would rob the company of a significant amount of revenue.
3) Different Platforms
People access e-commerce sites from a number of devices such as smart phones, tablets, computers, laptops etc. Therefore, a company needs to ensure that customers have a seamless experience across all devices. And for this, testing e-commerce sites and applications Is necessary.
4) Security and Vulnerability
Ecommerce sites and applications are more prone to security and vulnerability threats than others. Since people are using these applications to purchase products using their confidential banking data like card number, PIN number etc, it is of utmost importance that security and vulnerability of applications like Payment Gateway are always checked and updated.
5) Billing
E-commerce sites need to ensure that billing of products is done correctly. These companies offer various discounts and coupons to consumers. Sometimes the discounts are for targeted consumers such as those who make a certain amount of purchase. The billing application needs to take into account everything that goes into determining the price of the product or service availed. This will ensure customer confidence and allegiance. It also needs to take into account applicable taxes correctly. Then there are automated processes like generation of invoice and emails etc. that are integral to the billing process. To ensure all these, the business needs to conduct repeated tests on all these applications.
Final Verdict
The retail industry is highly volatile and ever evolving. Choosing the right methods and doing the right tests is recommendable before the e-commerce site is launched. By performing a strict test on your e-commerce website/application, you can certainly reduce the number of errors that crop up when the website is made live to your customers. This depicts that the site doesn’t always stay the same for too long. Therefore, it could get inordinate for many.