Leading wholesaler

• Millions of members shop online at peak times
• Application testing was time-consuming
• On-premises infrastructure generated significant costs

As one of the most successful and well-respected warehouse clubs in the world, this wholesaler remains committed to providing top quality goods to its members at the lowest possible prices.

As well as running brick-and-mortar warehouses across four continents, the company operates ecommerce websites and provides exclusive deals to members via a mobile app. To run all of these stores successfully and profitably, it’s crucial to keep the core applications and systems underpinning operations running smoothly.

“Providing responsive, engaging and easy-to-use applications and websites is a fundamental part of delivering excellent member services in the digital era,” explained a spokesperson. “Any issues with our core systems or applications could cause disruption and frustration for our members. To prevent this, we work diligently to test every single line of code that goes into our member-facing and back-office operations.”

Ecommerce traffic, mobile app usage, and in-store footfall vary significantly throughout the year. During peak times like Black Friday, millions of members flock to stores and websites. “Making sure that our applications can handle peak loads is just as crucial as eliminating bugs during the development cycle,” said the spokesperson. “A significant proportion of net sales happens in the run up to seasonal holidays when visits to our app, website, and warehouses surge. If our applications cannot handle these increases in demand, we could potentially lose out on a huge number of sales, or even lose members.”

While many companies have struggled to keep pace with volatile economic conditions and inflationary pressures, the wholesaler has achieved sustained growth in recent years. To keep pace with this impressive growth trend, IT leaders looked to step up their performance testing activities.

For many years, performance engineers adopted a shift-right approach to application testing and carried out the vast majority of performance tests just before moving software into production. While this methodology enabled the company to ensure always-on availability for its core systems, it was time-consuming and generated significant costs for the business. On-premises testing tools were also a significant cost factor, and performance engineers spent a lot of their working days managing and maintaining the infrastructure supporting their testing activities.