How to Test E-commerce Software

E-commerce testing helps in error prevention and adds value to the product while meeting client requirements. The testing aims to ensure:

• Reliability and quality of software
• System trust
• Optimal performance

Setting up an e-commerce system is complex and depends on many market variables. Testing is mandatory to maintain the integrity of the e-commerce system. What is tested:

1. Browser Compatibility

• Support for older browsers
• Special browser extensions
• Browser testing should cover major platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac, etc.)

2. Displaying Pages

• Incorrect display of pages
• Runtime error messages
• Poor page load times
• Broken links, plugin dependency, font size, etc.

3. Session Management

• Session expiration
• Session storage

4. Convenience and Simplicity

• Non-intuitive design
• Poor website navigation
• Directory navigation
• Lack of help/support

5. Content Analysis

• Misleading, offensive, or illegal content
• Royalty-free images and copyright infringement
• Personalization functionality
• Availability 24/7

6. Availability

• Denial of service attacks
• Unacceptable levels of inaccessibility

7. Backup and Recovery

• Recovery failure
• Backup error
• Resiliency

8. Operations

• Integrity of the transaction
• Throughput
• Audit

9. Processing Orders and Making a Purchase

• Cart functionality
• Order processing
• Payment process
• Order tracking

10. Internationalization

• Language support
• Displaying languages
• Cultural sensitivity
• Regional accounting

11. Operational Business Procedures

• How well the e-procedure is doing
• Observing bottlenecks

12. System Integration

• Data interface format
• Updates
• Amount of interface load
• Integrated performance

13. Performance

• Performance bottlenecks
• Load handling
• Scalability analysis

14. Login and Security

• Possibility to log in
• Penetration and access control
• Insecure transmission of information
• Web attacks
• Computer viruses
• Digital signatures

Performance testing is a top priority in e-commerce. A simple delay of about 250 milliseconds of page load time forces your customer to go to your competitor. Retail giant Walmart has overhauled its website speed and saw a 2% increase in visitor conversion rates and 1% in revenue.

The effectiveness of your website depends on these factors:

1. Throughput

• Requests per second
• Transactions per minute
• Executions per click

2. Response Time

• Duration of the task
• Seconds per click
• Loading page
• DNS Lookup
• Time between click and page view