How Continuous Testing Can Become a Game-Changer for Your Business: E-Commerce Example
Whether you are a small e-commerce business still trying to figure stuff out or an established company looking for promising opportunities, the chances are high that you may want to consider the same solution – continuous testing. While CT originated at the start of this millennium, it gained significant popularity with the rise of DevOps in the mid-2010s.
Today, it is the driver of innovation, guardian of best practices, and a competitive advantage – all in one package. But to puzzle out how it works and how it can transform your company, first, we need to go back to the source.
Defining DevOps
DevOps is a set of practices that strive to bridge the gap between development and IT operations teams with the goal of fast, reliable, and efficient product delivery. To better understand the core principle of DevOps, let’s break down how it operates.
A simplified process of software development includes developers, quality assurance engineers, and IT operations specialists.
- The first team (Dev) is tasked with designing and creating the base for operational software, relying on programming skills.
- The second team (QA) works on the functional version of that software before it or its updates go to production to locate issues that can impact UX.
- The third team’s (ITOps) core responsibility is managing the IT operations and monitoring and maintaining the software system/infrastructure.
More traditional practices separated these three pillars of software development. So each department would have to wait for a completed task in order to proceed with their duties. You can see how this model stalls lead time. What is more, it may cause workplace frustration, loss of productivity, and a decrease in quality, among others.
DevOps deconstructs the barriers between the teams by capitalizing on the following:
- Communication and collaboration.
- Automation of SDLC.
- Continuous improvement.
- User-centricity.
Further, it promotes cross-functionality and the merging of distinct departments into one unit that takes full responsibility for their work. In turn, this allows them to focus on the result for the user instead of individual actions that can suffer from perspectival fractionation.
Benefits of Implementing DevOps in E-Commerce Development
Even e-commerce giants that seemed to have it all figured out largely benefited from DevOps and advanced their reputation and sales. Shopify was the first big platform to introduce DevOps to their processes, reducing mean time to recovery by 90% and deploying code alterations up to 50 times per day.
And the advantages of DevOps do not stop there, as it also allows:
- Streamlining the development process and speeding up time-to-market.
- Automating the infrastructure to focus on value-add features.
- Encouraging collaboration between teams for quality production.
- Facilitating continuous delivery (CD) of software.
- Enhancing compliance and security through automation and communication.
- Promoting business agility and innovation.
- Improving reliability and scalability via frequent iterations.
So, DevOps is not just a trend you should follow to keep up. It is a sure-fire way to put your business ahead of the competition and stay there.
Defining Continuous Testing
Continuous testing in DevOps is the practice of running tests automatically and frequently throughout the entire SDLC. CT is the ‘prodigy child’ of DevOps and Agile, as it is the intermediary between developers and operations and the core quality governor.
Recognizing the importance of QA in software development brought forth the extension of DevOps named QAOps. It emphasizes the integration of quality assurance into the software development process and further reiterates the value of continuous testing.
Within DevOps, CT works by prioritizing:
- Automation. CT relies on automation to run tests frequently and consistently throughout the development process. This stabilizes the workflow, accelerates SDLC, and advances quality.
- Integration with DevOps tools. When integrated with continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines, CT ensures automated test execution at every stage of development. Consequently, this guarantees early issue identification and fixing, reducing the overall time it takes to develop and release software.
- Real-time feedback. CT provides real-time feedback to developers, allowing them to mend errors as they arise. This feedback loop enables developers to address issues quickly before they become bigger problems that could affect software quality or functionality.
- Comprehensive test coverage. CT allows for more exhaustive testing, as tests are executed automatically throughout the development cycle. Due to this, locating even the smallest, temporary, or exceptional issues is easy and requires less effort.
By virtue of continuous testing, DevOps teams can also reinforce their collaboration by relying on perpetual feedback, which inevitably leads to a product that simply keeps getting better.
Why Continuous Testing Outcompetes Traditional Testing
Compared to traditional testing practices, CT offers two main advantages: increased speed and quality. Because CT spans the entire SDLC, bugs can be located and eliminated earlier and easier. In essence, CT prevails over traditional testing in the following areas:
- Testing frequency. CT involves testing at every stage of SDLC, while traditional testing typically occurs at the end of the development cycle.
- Test automation. CT heavily relies on test automation to execute tests quickly and efficiently, while traditional testing combines manual and automated testing.
- Test coverage. CT aims to achieve higher test coverage by testing early and often, while traditional testing may have lower test coverage due to limitations in time and resources.
- Feedback loop. CT provides immediate feedback on the quality of the code, hence faster fixes. Meanwhile, traditional testing commonly has longer feedback loops due to segmented SDLC, hence delays and slower release cycles.
- Integration with CI/CD. CT is an integral part of CI/CD pipelines that enable automated testing and faster feedback loops. In contrast, traditional testing may omit such practices, leading to slower releases and higher costs.
It is important to note that traditional testing has transformed into modern software testing services that found their rightful place within Agile and DevOps. Today, good old QA continues to be the optimal solution for many businesses as it is applied in earlier stages of SDLC, can effectively unite manual and automated testing, and has a strong focus on quality.
What CT has done for the B2B e-commerce industry is show new possibilities for efficient testing and development, a point on the horizon that each should strive to follow.
Benefits of Continuous Testing
Given the distinct features of continuous testing that separate it from other QA methods, it especially shines in the following aspects:
- Catching defects early in the development process.
- Promoting better quality of e-commerce applications, including their functionality, performance, security, etc.
- Integrating consumer feedback promptly, thus constantly innovating for software users.
- Facilitating scalability while maintaining reliability.
- Accelerating release cycles.
- Reducing the overall cost of testing.
Bearing in mind that among the top B2B e-commerce challenges are expansion, customization, and integration, CT will also allow your business to introduce changes gradually and try out new approaches without instantly committing to a single option. And thanks to continuous testing, this readiness to experiment gives you a competitive advantage and limitless potential.
Continuous Testing in E-Commerce
Continuous testing is one of the key strategies that help balance innovation and stability in e-commerce platform development. Particularly because CT was founded on years of experience and progress of previous testing/development methods and established with future possibilities in mind.
In other words, CT aims to preserve best practices, such as ensuring security, reliability, and performance while embracing the change to improve user experience, increase sales, and stay ahead of competitors. Achieving such harmony is challenging, and even big companies fall victim to focusing either on innovation or stability.
The Tension Between Innovation & Stability
If you center on practices that have ‘worked so far,’ you risk becoming a stale company that has difficulties dealing with the ever-changing business ecosystem. On the other hand, when you hyperfocus on innovation, it can lead to neglecting the basics and essential aspects of running an e-commerce platform.
Prioritizing Innovation over Stability: The Cases of Target and Macy’s
In 2013, Target experienced a breach where the hackers stole 40 million credit and debit card accounts, including personal data of 70 million customers.
- At the time, Target was heavily investing in new technology, e.g., a novel point-of-sale system that was not fully tested before launch, and its vulnerabilities were not comprehensively addressed.
- Additionally, Target failed to adequately secure its network infrastructure, leaving its payment system vulnerable to cyberattacks.
- The company did not properly segment its network, which meant that hackers could move from one part of the network to another, gaining access to sensitive customer data.
Another example is Macy’s website crash on Black Friday in 2020.
- Similarly, the company capitalized on innovation to enhance CX, e.g., implementing AR features and improved search functionality.
- Because of not adhering to standard procedures, i.e., sufficient load and stress testing before Black Friday, their website could not handle the high traffic and eventually crashed.
Both events caused substantial brand damage and sales loss, and both instances could have been prevented with continuous testing. By implementing CT, Target and Macy’s could ensure that their systems are continuously monitored and tested, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities and issues going undetected.
Prioritizing Stability over Innovation: The Cases of Sears and Toys “R” Us
Sears was once one of the largest retailers in the United States, but in recent years, the company has struggled to remain competitive.
- It focused heavily on stability, relying on its tried-and-true business model of selling household appliances, tools, etc., through its physical stores.
- However, the company failed to innovate and adapt to changing consumer preferences and the rise of e-commerce.
- Over time, Sears reduced its investments in its physical stores. And in 2017, the company allocated about 91 cents per square foot to improve its stores and e-commerce website.
While Amazon was dedicated to building an online retail empire, Sears was trying out new management options. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
Stability also killed Toys “R” Us.
- A dominant player in the industry relied too much on its large physical stores and extensive selection.
- And the mounting competition combined with the inability to follow the pace of change led to the company’s demise.
Toys “R” Us was slow to embrace online sales, and it eventually fell behind its rivals, going bankrupt in 2017.
Capitalizing on creativity deters us from leveraging the fundamentals, and capitalizing on legacy procedures hinders progress and conceals remarkable opportunities. The tensegrity of innovation and traditions is key to a long-lasting, successful venture.
Brands that Figured out Continuous Testing: Case Studies from Amazon, eBay, & Walmart
Oftentimes, it is better to learn from businesses that have embraced novel technologies and approaches in order to do the same and, potentially, enhance them in a unique manner. So, let’s take a look at how Amazon, eBay, and Walmart used continuous testing tools to prevail.
Automated Testing
Each company has automated the majority of its testing process using a combination of open-source and proprietary tools. TestNG, Appium, and Selenium, among others, helped automate UI and functional testing across various platforms and devices. The trio also uses AI and ML to automate complex scenarios, such as load, security, and performance testing. These practices presented enhanced quality, faster delivery, and optimized CX.
CI/CD Pipelines
The firms have implemented CI/CD pipelines that automate the software delivery process, from code changes to production deployment. These include automated testing at different stages, such as unit testing, integration testing, and acceptance testing, to ensure that software modifications are validated before being released to production.
Testing in Production
Amazon, eBay, and Walmart use canary deployments and feature flags to test new features in production environments before making them generally available. This allows them to detect and fix issues quickly while minimizing the impact on customers.
Real-Time Monitoring & Analytics
These organizations also rely on real-time monitoring and analytics to identify issues and performance bottlenecks in production environments. Taking advantage of tools like CloudWatch, X-Ray, New Relic, Splunk, and Dynatrace lets them monitor application and system performance and gain insights into user behavior and interactions with their applications.
Continuous Improvement
All three e-commerce giants foster a culture of continuous improvement, where they continually evaluate their testing processes and technologies to identify areas for improvement. They encourage employees to innovate and experiment with new testing approaches and technologies to advance the software’s quality.
With the integration of continuous testing, Amazon, eBay, and Walmart were able to grow on multiple fronts, including the following:
- Amazon saw a 90 percent decrease in the time it took to go from check-in to production (AWS).
- eBay was able to increase deployment frequency and improve change failure rate by 3 times as well as reduce lead times by 2.5 times (IT Revolution).
- Walmart now could run up to 50 000 tests per day, observing a 250% increase in testing efficiency; and thanks to continuous integration testing, it is available on “over 700 browser/OS combinations, 172 device emulators, and over 300 unique real devices” (eWeek).
Even big platforms that apparently had discovered the key to success saw the potential of CT. And after finding the right way to implement continuous testing, it is safe to assume that they did not regret taking this risk.
Conclusion
Continuous testing reminds us that QA is no longer just about quality. Its role in SDLC expanded beyond initial notions and transformed into a force to be reckoned with when it comes to speedy delivery, superior CX, cost and effort optimization, as well as creativity encouragement. CT is an opportunity worth exploring if you want to prosper in today’s e-commerce realities.