Digital transformation is all-pervasive, revolutionizing every industry. And retail is one sector that has witnessed the good, bad and ugly of this transformation. As every part of the shopping journey gets virtualized, retailers or e-tailers rely heavily on high quality software as a catalyst for growth and sustainability. In retail especially, customer experience is the touchstone of digital success. Where touchpoints, technology and supply chain have become more complex, continuous delivery and enhancements can help businesses achieve a competitive advantage.
Testing takes centre-stage owing to the increased application complexity, omni-channel software, multiple platforms and devices and greater customer expectations. The high volume and multiple test scenarios require an evolved test automation process. Here’s looking at 3 ways in which retail is leveraging Test Automation to speed up its digital transformation journey:
1) Accuracy of Defect Detection
There is of course a higher level of accuracy in detecting bugs with test automation. It supports the agile and iterative model of quality assurance. The real advantage is the ability to shift left by recording and identifying defects earlier in the development cycle. Test early and test often is the motto, and automation allows it to happen.
In effect, it allows retail businesses to speed up their time to market and meet customer expectations on quality.
2) Seamless, Multi-channel Deployment
The digital retail mix is a complex one with a combination of tech – Internet of Things, voicebots and chatbots just to name a few.
As the channels and touchpoints have increased, so have consumer expectations from multiple channels. Brands need to live up to these ideals across channels and platforms. Testing on multiple devices with various operating systems and all possible scenarios/bandwidth simulations is quite a feat. Test Automation plays a critical role here as it can handle massive test volumes spanning across systems at the speed of business.
With the help of UI and visual component validation, automated testing can ensure data integrity and seamless customer experience across devices and channels.
3) Intelligent Test Automation
The use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in automation have further enhance the quality, efficiency and speed with which businesses can achieve their targets and avert risks. Test cases, scripts and code can be automatically generated with AI.
Algorithms continuously learn from the test data to provide insights like application reliability, failure patterns, defect heat-maps and intelligent classification of errors. Retailers need intelligent decision making and faster validation to keep up with the testing challenges.
AI-led automation helps increase coverage using a model based testing approach, removing redundant test cases.
There is reduction in the overall automation effort with reusability of test data and steps, that lead to faster automation and lower maintenance.
Businesses today need a more Agile-friendly and DevOps ready approach to solve some common software quality challenges. For retail businesses, quality is defined by customer experience and satisfaction. Speed and flawless user journeys make for happy customers. And test automation gives the necessary velocity for retailers to focus on their core business and innovations, rather than performance bottlenecks and day-to-day quality challenges.
QMetry Automation Studio(QAS) is designed to address these complex quality challenges of today. QAS lets you manage all automation efforts seamlessly on all platforms – UI, mobile, web or mobile web. QAS enables quick authoring and execution of automation tests, review and analysis of results to quickly identify failure and fix them. Sign up for a free trial and bring structure, efficiency and agility to your test automation.
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