#retailapptesting

The customers of today want superior personalized shopping experiences with quick dispersal at the turnstiles. The retail sector understands this shift in expectations and has invested heavily in technology, including the use of POS systems, to achieve a slew of business objectives. This has become all the more important with e-commerce making inroads into the customers’ shopping habits. To buttress the argument, e-commerce is expected to take around 18.1 percent of the worldwide retail sales and may account for 22 percent by 2023 (Source: eMarketer).

Thus, the growing penchant for e-commerce among a large section of the customers has forced retailers to pull up their socks and deliver an omnichannel shopping experience. With competition looming large, retailers need to have advanced touchpoints offering a seamless customer experience at the frontend and secure transaction processing at the backend. And to ensure the POS systems perform consistently, efficiently, and accurately, they need to be put through rigorous POS testing. So, what is POS all about? let us find out.

What is POS?

POS or Point of Sale is a computer terminal that forms part of a larger computer network comprising a printer, card reader, bar code scanner, and cash drawer, among others. The individual computer terminal captures transactions, scans details of merchandise through bar code scanners, updates transactions in the common database, and generates receipts for the same. Since the entire procedure is fairly automated, the person manning the POS terminal does not have to perform any manual computations.

This makes the entire operation quite seamless leading to quick dispersal of the queue. The efficient process turns out to be a win-win for both customers and retailers. However, the entire process is ultimately premised upon the accurate functioning of the POS system. Any hitch or glitch in the system can lead to erroneous computations, frayed tempers, filing of lawsuits, a slide in brand value, and a loss in revenue. This is where retail application testing becomes a key differentiator for retailers to remain competitive.

What are the challenges in retail software testing? 

The multitude of challenges surrounding retail testing is as follows:

Multiple configurations: A POS application needs to run on different computers having different configurations, browsers, and settings. So, any retail testing strategy should ensure the smooth functioning of the software for every scenario or configuration.

Peripheral issues: The application needs to interface with different types of peripherals such as bar code scanners, printers, cash registers, and scales, among others.  

Complex interfaces: A functioning POS system is interconnected with several third-party elements including scanner and printer software. These complex integrations should be tested and validated as part of POS terminal testing.  

PCI compliance: Since POS systems entail the processing of payments from various sources, including credit or debit cards, they need to strictly comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards. This is to protect the data and identity of cardholders and ensure the system is tamper-proof.

Upgrades: With rapid technological advances and periodic updates to the retail digital infrastructure, the applications running the POS systems need to be updated as well. Hence, the quality assurance services for retail need to test the impact of any software updates through regression testing.

Examples of test cases

A few examples of test cases that form a part of POS testing are as follows:

Cashier activity: Here, the retail application testing exercise may include testing the accuracy of entries of items purchased by the customers, testing whether the discounts are applied properly, checking if petty cash management works as desired, matching the totals and closings, or testing the compatibility of the POS system with peripherals such as bar code scanners, and RFID readers, among others.

Processing of payment gateway: As an integral part of security testing, the retail app testing involves testing the CVV numbers of customers’ credit cards, testing the swiping of cards from both sides, and verifying the encryption of all card details.

Negative scenarios: In this type of retail application testing, the system is tested for expired card details, invalid PINs, negative transactions, or entering a wrong code for merchandise, a wrong invoice number, and an invalid date for a promotional offer, among others.

Conclusion

Given that the successful functioning of POS systems has a bearing on the competitiveness and success of retail enterprises, the role of retail testing becomes significant. It helps to reduce the chances or risks of POS failure during transactions and ensures strict compliance with relevant regulatory standards.

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James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies. I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality that yields strong results and always happy to create valuable content & share thoughts.