How to test the Contactless Retail POS Systems

The footprint of technology has reached everywhere and has made the hitherto complex activities, simple and convenient. One of the areas that shopping establishments grappled with was conducting quick transactions in real-time. In large shopping centres with huge footfalls, facilitating a seamless transaction has been made possible with Point of Sale (POS) terminals. These devices help retail businesses meet the challenges of allowing quick customer disbursal, conducting fast and accurate transactions in real-time, and obtaining the total figures with minimum manual intervention.

These contactless POS terminals take inputs of merchandize through barcode readers and process transactions in double-quick time. These have eliminated the need for entering data manually on an excel sheet. And since the retail ecosystem, especially the customer interface section, seems to be driven by these machines, their accurate functioning has become critical. What if these devices malfunction or generate erroneous data? To address such a possibility, entities manufacturing such devices need to implement stringent retail POS testing in the end-to-end production pipeline. However, before understanding the process of testing the contactless retail POS systems, let us know what they are all about.

What is a POS (Point of Sale) system?

It is a device that is placed where transactions between the customer and dealer/seller take place. Nowadays, such devices have become ubiquitous in places where there are payments involved. These include areas such as shopping malls and retail stores, restaurants, hospitals, and movie theatres, among others. A standalone POS system is an integration of many components or devices including a barcode reader, a wireless payment system, and a printer. To enable the POS system to run smoothly, these individual components must be integrated fully and run as a unit. This is where the significance of retail software testing or POS testing comes about.

Is retail POS testing different?

Yes, it is not exactly the kind of software testing that the QA testers execute through a web app or computer terminal. Retail testing involves the testing of each integrated device and the software running them. It requires a full-fledged setup mimicking a retail store.

Are there challenges in retail software testing?

As the POS systems need customization to meet the requirements of a particular retail store, there are a few challenges involved:

·       The POS system in a retail store may need multiple configurations depending on the day, event, or special occasion. For example, if a retail store wants to run a promotional campaign for a day or a few hours in a day, the POS terminal should be configured to reflect the same.

·       A POS terminal has integrated device components and various software running the latter. So, any retail app testing needs to comply with the various software versions and hardware configurations.

·       Since individual components are part of the POS system, the need for compatibility and integration testing becomes crucial.

·       POS testing should ensure the device is PCI compliant as it deals with customers’ credit or debit cards.

How to test the contactless retail POS systems

As the POS system is a combination of various individual components, the latter should be tested individually.

POS terminal: Since the terminal screen registers all entries related to the transaction and information such as pricing, payment modes, product list, and/or promotional offers, among others, the testing has to be comprehensive. Terminal testing should ensure if all devices are connected to the terminal network and contain the latest software versions.

Barcode reader: It is the barcode reader that makes the whole apparatus ‘contactless’. It scans the merchandize or product and verifies if it exists in the inventory and gets the price. After the product is sold the inventory is updated accordingly. For any retail app testing, any missing product from the inventory should be scanned. Also, products existing in the inventory without any price list attached to them should be scanned during testing.

Handheld device for card payments: This wireless device accepts card payment details post-authentication by the customer through a PIN. Here, the testing should be conducted after selecting the payment mode of a transaction as ‘card.’

Printer: This device helps to generate an invoice or receipt post-transaction. Here, the retail testing strategy should include a range of testing areas - alignment, text size, overwrites, and fonts, among others. Further, tests should be conducted to check response when the printer is not ready, has run out of paper, or loses connection during a transaction.

Conclusion

In today’s digital age the retail industry is increasingly using the POS systems to obtain a range of benefits. However, the benefits can only be accrued if these systems and the individual components running them are validated for functionality, performance, security, and accuracy.