How To Test Omnichannel Retail Experiences

A seamless omnichannel retail experience facilitates increased sales and traffic by improving the customer experience and offering customers more channels to complete their shopping. Whether you operate your retail business solely through an online shop, social media, or a bricks-and-mortar outlet, it’s vital that your Point of Sale (POS) integrations are robustly tested.

The Importance Of POS Integration Testing

Point of Sale integrations with payment devices must be reliable and responsive, connecting to back-end systems and cloud databases to manage stock levels, synchronise logistics, and provide insightful accounting data. Yet nearly half of retailers express frustration that back-office integration with POS is a major obstacle to delivering a seamless omnichannel experience.

Testing integrations is vital to ensure that sales, marketing, and customer service platforms are connected and capable of delivering personalised campaigns that span multiple sales channels.

How POS Integrations Should Be Tested Through Automation

Point of Sale integration testing should focus on these areas:

1) In-Store POS Testing

Customers rightly expect their checkout experience to be quick and trouble-free, yet the process is more complex than it appears when it comes to testing. With a range of hardware devices and software applications involved in a typical POS process, manual testing can be challenging. An automated testing strategy will cover all aspects of POS integration and functionality, including scanning, touchscreen technology, and payment devices. 

2) The Online Experience

When purchasing from an online store, customers will come to the end of the process at the POS, either on the retailer’s website, mobile app, or in-store if payment is due on collection. However, the testing process of front-end software integrations is complicated by the extensive range of devices, browsers, and platforms that customers use, and must be approached from the consumer’s side to ensure no obstacles occur that will make the purchasing process sluggish or clunky. Any barrier to frictionless completion of the sale can mean a customer may fall out of the sales journey and a direct hit to potential sales revenue.

3) Back-End System Integration

Manually testing each integration in a back-office system is challenging due to the number of systems and variables involved. A back-office system could combine inventory management, ERP, security, payment processing, logistics, and CRM and, with regular updates and maintenance to software, manual testing would be logistically impossible to complete thoroughly. Automated end-to-end testing is the only way to manage the complex web of configurations, codebases, and platforms, without losing vital functionality. 

Improve Your POS Integrations

The automated end-to-end testing of POS integrations is vital to achieve a seamless and responsive omnichannel retail experience and broaden the scope for increased sales volumes and stronger customer loyalty. To find out how Nextgen can improve your omnichannel retail experience with automated end-to-end testing, please book a demo today.