The fast pace and competitive nature of retail means it’s always been a hotbed of innovation. Self-checkout, Self Scan apps (such as Scan and Go, Scan and Shop) and Just Walk Out technology remove friction from the shopping experience. Seamless omnichannel experiences connect physical and digital stores. Personalized offers drive up selling opportunities. Retailers constantly push the boundaries of what’s possible, seeking to secure a competitive edge through digital transformation.
These transformations are even more impressive because of the constraints that surround them. Innovation needs to be delivered rapidly because retail is so fast paced. It also needs to be delivered in a cost-effective manner because retail margins are so tight.
The reality is that these constraints mean that quality always suffers. This undermines the user experience and, ultimately, prevents digital transformation initiatives from achieving their full potential.
What is the solution?
In this article, we consider factors that inhibit a culture of quality in retail. We also consider how to overcome the quality roadblocks, while still maintaining speed and cost-effectiveness, so retailers can secure the necessary digital transformation and competitive advantage
Factors That Hold Back Successful Digital Transformation in Retail
As is often the case, this apparently simple issue has complex underlying causes and there are multiple reasons why retailers don’t secure the projected returns from digital transformation projects they intend.
Many retailers approach digital transformation projects using the traditional waterfall methodology long associated with large-scale tech initiatives. However, in today’s fast-paced world, sequential development simply doesn’t cut it. Businesses now demand frequent updates and continuous improvements to their data and digital workflows. Development cycles must be measured in days—not months or years. The longer a project takes, the higher the cost and the lower the returns
Retail quality assurance strategies also suffer in a waterfall approach, which in turn impacts the effectiveness of an initiative.
When time is tight, tasks at the end of the development pipeline are often scaled back. In a waterfall process, this typically means cutting quality assurance efforts, leading to defects slipping into the live environment.
When costs are a concern, no one wants to sacrifice features or functionality. Instead, it’s the quality assurance that gets reduced to save money.
When a development overruns and is launched later than planned, the fast-paced nature of retail often means the landscape has shifted. As a result, the technology is less relevant and impactful than originally intended. This diminishes the drive to make the iterative quality improvements needed to unlock its full potential.
Then consider the reality of retail technology.
Most operations rely on a network of hundreds of applications, many of which can be based on old mainframe-based systems of up to 30 to 40 years old. Maintaining these legacy systems is a huge task, compounded by the need to integrate cutting-edge innovations with outdated technology—all while pushing the boundaries of functionality and user experience. In too many instances, a new tool requires cumbersome and inefficient workarounds to accommodate upstream or downstream processes overlooked during development. This ultimately hinders digital transformation progress.
So, these are the challenges, but what are the solutions? Let’s consider how to reset the model and enable the required retail quality improvement initiatives so that retailers can maximize the potential of digital transformation.
Ensuring Quality in Retail Transformation
Input from the wider business during the initial scoping conversations is vital to understanding the problems that need to be solved and the solutions that are required. These conversations also reveal the upstream and downstream dependencies that will be affected by any new system. Effective governance in this area can prevent or significantly reduce the challenges of interfacing with multiple, often legacy, systems.
Quality assurance processes must be a core focus in any delivery approach. By embedding quality from the outset – starting with defining testing requirements alongside initial business requirements—organizations set the foundation for delivering exceptional user experiences that meet consumer demands.
This proactive approach is further reinforced when clear success metrics for retail transformation are established, ensuring the processes critical to achieving those goals remain integral and are not compromised by cost-cutting measures.
The business also plays a crucial role in ensuring quality. During the development phase, it’s essential to engage with business users. This helps ensure applications are developing a plan and provides opportunities to address edge cases. Such conversations give insight into how the application will be used in the real world. This helps QA teams to develop test cases that reflect real-life scenarios. They can test that the application works in the way that delivers maximum value, rather than just in the way the team developed it to work.
One reason quality is sidelined when time and budgets are tight is because it’s viewed as time-consuming and manual. Test automation tools offer a solution by helping QA teams to increase coverage, drive quality and enhance outcomes.
Tools such as Keysight Eggplant help retailers transform in-store and online retail experiences across all customer touchpoints and technologies. It elevates software quality and performance with a model-based approach that can verify and validate digital experiences across all devices and browsers. It also offers AI-driven robotics that can test POS terminals and connected physical devices, optimizing the in-store checkout experience. It provides a single solution that tests both physical and digital applications and gives an end-to-end automated test solution across everything from the legacy applications to the cutting-edge interfaces. It unlocks the possibility of driving quality in retail transformation.
Enabling Digital Transformation in Retail
Retail is one of the most exciting sectors for digital transformation with immense untapped potential. However, achieving digital retail excellence is often hindered by time and budget constraints. The good news is that there are strategies that eliminate the need to choose between speed, cost-effectiveness, and quality. By embracing these strategies, you can unlock a new level of retail performance through quality – and establish leadership in retail transformation.
If you have any questions or want to connect with one of Keysight Eggplant’s test automation experts, get in touch.