How to Test E-Commerce Websites and Applications Like Flipkart

The e-commerce business is increasing at a rapid pace, especially since Covid. So it is very important to test e-commerce websites and applications such as Amazon and Flipkart. Regressive testing of e-commerce applications is vital to make your app more robust and secure.

Effective manual and automation test strategies should be designed to test eCommerce applications. We need to make sure that all the pages of the application are tested regressively.

A test plan that covers all payment gateway test cases should also be created so that all the transactions are validated and secured. Load and Security testing should also be part of the test strategy to avoid compromises on loading time and mobile responsiveness. It would also protect the application from attacks by intruders.

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Ecommerce application Architecture

An eCommerce application has 4 important elements – Main Pages, Product Pages, Product Description Pages, and Shopping Cart. Understand these in detail to test e-commerce websites and applications efficiently.

Main Pages include homepage, privacy page, about us page, careers, etc. Product Page includes different options for the product such as size, color, and other attributes. Sorting and filtering features are considered as part of product type pages along with add-to-cart and wishlist features.

Product description page includes title, description, images, add to cart feature and additional info, etc. The shopping cart page should include payment options and removing a product from the cart.

Overall, an eCommerce website or an application includes different user roles such as customers, partners, staff, and service agents. Backend infrastructures include rules, analytics, security, logging, and content management.

The first layer which is revealed to the users is the presentation layer that includes the UI for mobile, desktops. Responsiveness is kept in mind when designing this presentation layer.

Core Functionality includes Content, Marketing, Inventory Management, Orders, and Catalog. Back-office functionality includes fulfillment, inventory, payment, and Catalog staging.  The conceptional view is shown below.

Testing Ecommerce Website Workflow

Testing of the complete workflow is important to test an eCommerce application. Let’s look at the components of the workflow such as Login and Signup, Search Functionality, Sorting Feature, Filter Feature, Adding or removing a product to the cart, check out process, Order number generation, Invoice generation, and Payment gateway.

Below are the test cases for the online shopping system that will help you in testing your mobile application. These test scenarios are for an online shopping website that will cover all pages of your eCommerce application.

General Test Cases for E-commerce Websites & Applications

1. User navigation through all the pages of the application
2. None of the links in the applications should be broken.
3. Company logo, products, prices, and their description should be visible.
4. Products should be listed category-wise on the application.
5. Products should be displayed which match the search criteria.
6. Relevant products should be listed on the top of the search results page.
7. Filtering functionality should work properly i.e., correct products are filtered when the filter is applied.
8. Ensure correct count of products is displayed on search and filter.
9. Sorting should be working correctly on all the pages – the products are sorted based on the sort of option.
10. The product count should remain the same even when sorting is applied.

Product Page Test Cases

1. Users should be able to select the desired attributes of the product-on-product page such as size, color, etc.
2. Adding a product to the cart should be possible
3. Checking whether users can add a product to the wish list.
4. Users should be able to buy the product which is added to the cart once the user is signed in.
5. Customers shouldn’t be able to add products to the cart when it is out of inventory.
6. All the products which are added to the cart should be purchasable by the user.
7. Verify error message is displayed on the UI when there is a limit on the products which can be purchased.
8. Error message should be displayed on the UI when shipping is not available to the delivery location.
9. All the payment methods should be displayed and all of the methods should be working correctly.
10. Ensure email gets triggered to the email address or mobile number when a product is bought by the customer.

Payment Gateway Test Cases

1. Verify product price is correct along with shipping charges, VAT. VAT and shipping charges should be correctly applied.
2. Confirm VAT varies based on the number of products in the cart.
3. Verify all the payment methods are correctly working such as net banking, credit/debit card, and PayPal using dummy numbers for testing.
4. Ensure payment is refunded to the customer when a product is cancelled based on payment id.
5. Make sure the emails and invoices sent to the customer after a product is purchased by the user.
6. Verify emails are sent to the customer when the payment is successfully refunded to the user.

Search Functionality Test Cases

1. Correct search results should show up for different types such as product name, brand name, or fuzzy search.
2. Search results should be relevant to the search criteria
3. Different sort options should work correctly after the search is applied.
4. Search results should be displayed as per pagination.
5. Verify search should work correctly based on different functionalities.

Shopping Cart Test Cases

1. User should be able to add a product to the cart.
2. Item count should be incremented when the user adds the same product again.
3. Taxes should be applied according to the delivery location.
4. User should be able to add items to the cart.
5. User should be able to update items in the cart.
6. Checkout should happen successfully for the items added to the cart.
7. Shipping costs for different products added to the cart.
8. Coupons should be applied successfully to the cart.
9. Cart should retain the items even when the app is closed.

Post-Order Test Cases

1. Email and order id should be sent after placement of order.
2. Users should be able to cancel the order.
3. There should be facility for users to track the order.
4. Users should be able to return/replace the product post-delivery.

Test strategy for eCommerce website

While testing an eCommerce application test strategy and test plan should be designed carefully. Let’s look at the test plan for an online shopping cart which includes different types of testing needed for an eCommerce website

1. Browser Compatibility Testing

Ensuring that the application works seamlessly across major platforms (Linux, Windows, and Mac) and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) is crucial for providing a universally positive user experience. Browser compatibility testing helps in identifying and rectifying UI inconsistencies and functional issues across different environments.

2. Load and Performance Testing

ECommerce sites experience variable traffic, with significant spikes during sales or promotional events (like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc.). Load and performance testing are critical to ensure that the website can handle high volumes of traffic and transactions without degradation in performance.

Testing for maximum load, response times, and the application’s ability to handle concurrent requests is necessary to ensure scalability and reliability under peak load conditions.Response time and loading time of the application should be tested in advance. Load balancers should be applied during extensive load testing.

3. Functional Testing

Testing the functionalities of an eCommerce site is fundamental to ensure that all features work as intended. This includes testing the shopping cart, checkout process, payment gateway integration, product search and filter functions, and user account management features. Functional testing also encompasses UI testing to ensure the application is not only responsive but also intuitive and user-friendly across different devices and screen sizes.

4. Security Testing

Security is paramount in eCommerce applications due to the handling of sensitive customer data and financial transactions. Security testing should cover various aspects, including data encryption, secure payment processing, protection against common web vulnerabilities (such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF)), and compliance with data protection regulations (like GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, etc.).

Ensuring the security of customer data and transactions is crucial for maintaining trust and complying with legal requirements. There have been instances where data breaches happened in the past which cost businesses a lot of bucks. Hence, security should be the main testing for eCommerce applications.

How to test e-commerce websites manually

1. Develop a Comprehensive Test Plan: Start by defining the scope of testing, including all the pages and functionalities of the e-commerce website. This plan should detail the testing strategies for UI, functionality, compatibility, performance, security, and any other relevant tests.

2. Execute Test Cases for UI and Functional Testing: Manually walk through the website to test the user interface and the functionality of all features. This includes testing navigation, search functionality, product listing and details, shopping cart, checkout process, payment gateway integration, user registration, and login/logout functionalities.

3. Track Test Cases and Bug Reporting: Use a test management tool to track the progress of test cases and document any bugs or issues encountered during testing. Early detection and reporting of bugs within the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) can significantly reduce the cost and effort required for bug fixes.

4. Perform Exploratory Testing: Beyond structured test cases, engage in exploratory testing to uncover issues that may not have been anticipated in the test plan. This involves creatively testing the application to identify potential weaknesses or unexpected behavior.

5. Test Across Different Devices and Browsers: Manually test the website on various devices (desktops, tablets, smartphones) and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) to ensure compatibility and responsive design.

How to Testing E-commerce Websites Using Selenium and Other Tools

1. Functional Testing with Selenium/Appium: Selenium, with Appium for mobile applications, allows for the automation of web browser actions to test the functionality of e-commerce websites. Testers can write scripts in languages supported by Selenium (like Java, C#, Python) to automate test cases for different functionalities.

2. Performance Testing with JMeter: Apache JMeter can be used for performance testing to simulate a large number of users accessing the website simultaneously. This helps in identifying bottlenecks and ensuring that the website can handle peak traffic loads.

3. Security Testing with ZAP OWASP: The Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) by OWASP is a tool for finding vulnerabilities in web applications. It can be used to perform automated scans and identify security threats like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other vulnerabilities.

4. Automating Unit Testing: Developers can automate unit tests using the programming language in which the application is developed. Frameworks like JUnit (for Java), PyTest (for Python), and NUnit (for .NET) can be used for writing and executing unit tests.

By combining manual testing strategies with automated tools like Selenium, JMeter, and ZAP OWASP, teams can ensure comprehensive coverage of all critical aspects of e-commerce website testing. This dual approach helps in maximizing the efficiency of the testing process, ensuring a high-quality user experience, and maintaining the security and performance of the e-commerce platform.

Conclusion

The above e-commerce website testing checklist and test plan for an eCommerce website would have given an idea of testing eCommerce applications such as Flipkart.

Do you still have doubts about testing your eCommerce application? Contact us to know more. Get free estimation from us and make your product more robust with minimum bugs.

Testscenario is a software testing team with experienced and efficient software testers. We are equally adept at E-commerce testing. Get in touch with us today, and get the best in the business spot out bugs for you.

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