Zamro is a young webshop that offers technical parts and tools (MRO). The inventory includes over 550.000 products. Zamro’s key differentiators are this large inventory, good findability of the products, and a modern e-commerce environment. As a start-up, it is important to move fast on the market to not miss any market opportunities and to maintain investor confidence. Often, moving fast is at odds with traditional test approaches which cannot incorporate frequent changes and delivery.
Problem statement
Zamro wanted to ensure a go-live of the new web shop on a tight deadline and to maintain the pace of delivery afterwards. Zamro worked together with Xebia to speed up and improve the software delivery process and take the first steps with Continuous Delivery.
Improvements
With the help of Xebia, the following improvements were achieved:
Test automation
• All regression testing is done automatically, and these tests run as an integrated part of the software development process
• Implementation of various test-types to ensure good test coverage at the right levels, including multi-device testing and visual regression testing.
Continuous Delivery
• Continuous Delivery for staying flexible and agile to accommodate for changes
• Restructured the continuous integration setup to improve the maintainability and clarity of the delivery pipelines
• Implemented build monitoring as one of the means to obtain transparency in delivery results.
Team professionalization
• Implemented a ‘keep the kitchen clean’ mentality in the teams (boy scouting principles)
• A substantially improved quality-mindset within the teams
Impact & Results
The desired release date of the Zamro.nl web shop was met, using techniques such as Continuous Integration, automated testing (well-balanced mass of automated tests at different levels of the app). The Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery process was streamlined and implemented and development practices in general were professionalized. Currently, Zamro releases new functionality into production at least once every week and has confidence in reaching its future growth targets.