Automated Testing with Cypress
We developed an automated test using Cypress that adds a list of products to the cart from the Product Detail Page, loads the Basket page, and executes a Lighthouse page speed test.
This approach offered a comprehensive view of the Basket page’s performance over time.
Performance Variability Testing
To understand how the Basket page behaves with varying numbers of products, we created several tests to compare page load times with different quantities of product lines.
The tests conducted were:
- Adding 5 products and displaying the Basket
- Adding 10 products and displaying the Basket
- Adding 15 products and displaying the Basket
These tests aimed to understand the impact of complex promotions and variation attributes on the Basket page load times.
Results
- The tests revealed significant discrepancies in load times between having 5, 10, and 15 products in the basket. The primary factor for the variations was the complex calculations required for promotions and product variations.
- Armed with this data, ShopLC’s performance optimization team employed profiling and other techniques to enhance load times significantly.
- Subsequent releases saw continuous improvements in Basket page load times, monitored through the integrated performance tests.
Ongoing Monitoring and Alerts
Retail Pace’s solution included a dashboard for real-time performance monitoring of the Basket and Checkout processes. Additionally, automated alerts were set up to notify the ShopLC team if performance metrics, such as the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), exceeded predefined thresholds (e.g., above 5 seconds). These alerts, integrated into Microsoft Teams, provided peace of mind, ensuring the team stayed informed about the daily status of their checkout performance without constantly monitoring the dashboard.
Conclusion
By implementing Retail Pace’s custom solution, ShopLC significantly improved their Basket and Checkout page performance, leading to:
- Reduced load times
- Fewer abandoned carts
- Increased customer satisfaction
ShopLC continues to benefit from ongoing performance tests and alerts, ensuring optimal performance and a seamless shopping experience for their customers.
Retail Pace remains committed to helping ShopLC maintain superior performance standards and deliver exceptional user experiences.
