End-to-end test strategy for an ecommerce multi-site migration

The background

Founded in 1992 as a small concession in a clothing store on London’s iconic Oxford Street, Dune London has grown to become a global leader and specialist in luxury footwear and accessories. With a passion for quality products and an obsession with the customer experience (CX), the brand has experienced exceptional growth over the past 30 years.

In 2020, Dune London decided to update its tech stack and replatform its five eCommerce websites to Salesforce Commerce Cloud. With goals to optimise their front-end CX and future proof their back-end technology, they wanted to ensure the new websites were thoroughly tested before launch.

'We knew that we needed comprehensive pre-launch testing to maximise our investment. We don't have in-house resource and did consider hiring a contract QA manager but decided this wouldn't give us the coverage we required.

We also wanted to have the accessibility and load of the new site tested, so we decided to look for an external partner.'

- Elaine Smith, Head of Digital Product at Dune London

The brief

Dune London needed a QA partner with proven experience in testing enterprise retail eCommerce software to define a comprehensive test strategy and deliver the test execution. The partner needed to be able to:

• Define a test strategy for 5 global eCommerce websites
• Ensure test coverage across an extensive range of real devices, operations systems, and browser combinations
• Provide and manage the test resource
• Conduct an accessibility audit to WCAG 2.1 AA standards
• Perform a load test and provide an analysis of results
• Provide support post-live

'We were looking for a UK-based QA company with proven experience in testing retail websites. They needed to be a good team fit with us and our Systems Integrator. In comparison to the other test providers we spoke to, Zoonou's approach resonated best with us!'

- Elaine Smith, Head of Digital Product at Dune London

Our solution

Functional testing for a friction-less shopping experience

eCommerce websites need to provide a seamless experience to avoid disrupting the user journey. For that reason, Zoonou deployed end-to-end functional testing on the flagship site and locale testing across the additional 4 sites. Testing simulated real user journeys that covered core functionality, including:

• Search and navigation
• Product listings and filtering
• Creating and logging into an account
• Shopping basket and checkout – including applying discount codes and gift cards
• The payment gateway integration – including integrations with PayPal, Klarna and Google Pay
• Post checkout experience – including confirmation emails and checking the order status

Ensuring consistent user experiences through compatibility testing

During the rounds of functional testing, Zoonou's testers performed real device compatibility testing. The testers checked how the websites render and operate in real user conditions across multiple browser-device-OS combinations.

'We are really pleased with how everything went, there was good communication throughout the process, and it felt quite seamless in terms of bugs being raised, being sent for retest and reporting.'

- Elaine Smith, Head of Digital Product at Dune London

Building an inclusive retail experience with accessibility auditing

A key goal for Dune London was to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard. Zoonou's Accessibility team conducted a technical audit on the website assessing the pages against the WCAG success criteria. Additionally, key user journeys were tested using assistive technologies to identify usability issues impacting disabled users.

'We knew the replatform would step us forward but having an accessibility audit really showed us how much work is required to really meet the guidelines. The issues raised were clearly laid out, and the report explains things in simple business terms.'

- Elaine Smith, Head of Digital Product at Dune London

Mitigating business risks with load and performance testing

To mitigate the business risks associated with a slow or unresponsive website, Dune London wanted reassurance that the sites were fast, responsive, and scalable. To that end, Zoonou's Performance Test Analysts ran a series of load, stress, and soak tests to evaluate the websites' performance under expected and extreme user levels. Testing allowed Dune London to identify and resolve any bottlenecks that could have been a blocker for sales during peak traffic times.

The outcomes

With Zoonou as the strategic QA partner for the project, Dune London launched the websites with confidence knowing that high-priority issues had been identified and fixed. Subsequently, Dune London was named as a finalist at the eCommerce Awards 2021 for Best Fashion eCommerce.

'It’s absolutely imperative to get a good testing agency onboard to ensure your project goes live with minimal issues. Zoonou played a big part in that for us, particularly as we had five sites all going live at once! The testing from Zoonou ensured a great experience for customers and no revenue impact for us as a business.'

- Elaine Smith, Head of Digital Product at Dune London