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Magento B2B Testing – Best Practices

ShanmugaPriya Vittal
October 4, 2021 |

The chapter “B2B Web Design” in the book ‘The B2B eCommerce Handbook’ by Matt Haig begins like this – “There is no such thing as a perfect B2B website. It simply does not exist and indeed cannot, exist. The web itself is an inherently imperfect medium because, as its inventor Tim Berners-Lee is more than happy to concede, it will always be ‘a little broken’.”

So here comes the need for best practices in Magento B2B testing.

The requirements of a B2B eCommerce website are different from that of a B2C eCommerce website. The business workflow of a B2B site is much more complex, non-standardized, and differs from client to client and industry to industry.

Magento is one of the leading eCommerce platforms that has been making successful forays in the B2B space. The core features of Magento 2.4 specifically align with B2B operations, acting as a huge support system. 

We have come up with the best practices and learnings from the Magento B2B projects that we implemented. We have presented it in the form of differences in testing a B2C and a B2B eCommerce website. This is also to bring into focus the B2B features that need to be tested apart from the regular eCommerce features in B2C.

Also Read: Ecommerce Automation Testing

Here’s Your Checklist for Magento B2B Testing

Along with the checklist, we can also take a look at the differences in the processes involved in the operations of B2B and B2C websites.

Differences in testing a B2C and B2B ECommerce site:

Account Management:

  • Creating company accounts in a B2C site is simple and does not need any approval.
  • Creating company accounts in a B2B site involves approval from the accounting team or other appropriate teams after a customer registers on the site.

What to Test:

  • Customer registration with/without Credit Line
  • Register using a unique email address and password
  • Approval from the Accounting/other teams

Pricing:

  • In a B2C site, there is no dynamic pricing. The product price is usually the same for all consumers.
  • In a B2B site, there are different pricing types such as tier pricing, customer-specific pricing, etc.

What to Test:

  • Pricing for each customer
  • Pricing for guest user
  • Boundary testing for Tier pricing

Searching & Browsing Products:

  • Search in a B2C site is simple.
  • B2B has enhanced search features that need to be tested with various keywords/SKU to achieve the exact search results.

What to Test:

  • Search by one or more keywords
  • Search by partial keywords
  • Search by partial/full SKU
  • Search by price range

Purchasing Products:

  • In a B2C site, consumers can purchase a product by using the standard functionalities.
  • B2B e-commerce platforms are expected to offer full support for Quick Orders, Request A Quote, Reordering for the wholesale customers to help drive repeat business. 

What to Test:

Quick Order:

  • Search and Add product using partial/full SKU
  • Search and Add products using keywords
  • Increase/decrease Quantity

Request A Quote:

  • Request and submit product quote
  • Approve/Reject the quote 
  • Buy the quoted products with the negotiated price if approved

Reorder:

  • Reorder a previously placed order
  • Reorder and add new items and proceed to checkout

Payment Processing:

  • In a B2C site, customers are offered payment options like Paypal, Credit/Debit card, COD
  • B2B companies extend credit to customers in addition to traditional payment methods like credit cards and PayPal

What to Test:

  • Check using allowed credit card types
  • Check expiry month/year
  • Pay using credit line amount
  • Pay via ACH/e-check

Shipping methods:

  • In a B2C site, consumers often purchase products that are lightweight, and hence they ship via common carriers such as UPS, FedEx, or US Postal Service.
  • In a B2B site, business customers purchase products in bulk using LTL or FTL  shipments and also use UPS, FedEx, US Postal Service for products that are lightweight. 

What to Test:

  • Add products with different weights
  • Verify the UPS, FedEx, LTL, FTL rates

Order Tracking:

  • In a B2C site, tracking orders by consumers is a common feature.
  • In a B2B site, the ability to track orders is a key component of the overall customer experience wherein they can find the order status. This plays a crucial role for the supplier to fulfill the expectations of the distributors.

What to Test:

  • Track order status using Order ID, Email account, Zip Code
  • Track order status using the tracking number

B2B eCommerce websites are complex and layered in nature.  The QA professional who tests the site must be familiar and comfortable with the industry jargon, workflows, approval cycles, pricing, buying and payment patterns, etc. This will help her to test not just the functionalities but also from the company and buyer’s points of view.

Final Thoughts

Testing your Magento B2B website is as important as implementing it. Just like how building your perfect Magento website is the result of a lot of plannings and strategies, the best testing practices also require intricate planning.

And we are here to help you with the best Magento B2B testing practices.  Our expert QA professionals ensure we deliver you a high-performing Magento B2B website.  DCKAP has always been instrumental in helping leading B2B brands, manufacturers, and distributors in achieving success with our services and solutions. With us, get your feature-rich online storefront up and running.

Aiming to build the best-in-class eCommerce website? Our experts are just a call away!

ShanmugaPriya Vittal

Shanmuga Priya is a Senior Quality Analyst at DCKAP. She holds an ISTQB Foundation Level Certification and a DHS Section 508 Trusted Tester Certification. She gives attention to detail and quality is her utmost priority which made her choose QA as her career, and she loves to learn new things to keep herself updated.

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