A progressive web app (PWA) is an app that builds using web technologies like Html, CSS & JavaScript. Users can access through the web browser and functionalities like a native app. Many industries have leveraged this technology and e-commerce is one of them. You are going to know how progressive web apps are beneficial to the e-commerce sector.
If there is a complex process in finding your app in the app store, downloading, and finally installation, you may lose 1 out of 5 app users. A user always looking for a better experience. It is possible with the help of quick and easy navigation in your application. With a PWA, the number of steps from finding an app to downloading and using it is reduced significantly. That said, in a web browser itself, the user can easily look for the app and start using it immediately.
It is the responsibility of the e-commerce store owner to reduce the confusion of the user. It is the most important part of the overall user experience. If there are few steps in navigation, the better the user experience. Tracking the rate of conversion metric is important for an e-commerce website. There’s no point if visitors just come, browse, and leave without purchasing something, even if you spend thousands of dollars and countless hours creating a great e-commerce website. Progressive web applications help to improve the conversion rate because loading is much faster.
Easy and Quick Development
In contrast to creating a native app, it is relatively easy to create a PWA. Google has ensured that developers can use reusable codes, allowing the same codes and modules to be reused.
Every e-commerce business wants to provide native app-like functionality to customers in the shortest time possible. A progressive web app is the best choice for you. They are more convenient, simpler, and cheaper to build than native applications.
Reaching your customers from every corner of the internet requires a website, android, or ios app. Instead of investing in multiple platforms, You can build a PWA to explicitly save a huge amount of money and time without compromising on the user experience.
Reduced Gap between Businesses and Customers
With a PWA, the app won’t need to be downloaded by your users. It reduces the cognitive load that users often face when installing an app during the process. Users are also becoming aware of the number of applications on their phones that they have. As the room for mobile storage is reduced, minimalism is a new normal in terms of maintaining mobile apps.
Users do not like downloading applications, because there are many apps clocked on their smartphones. It clogs the phone by having many applications on the phone, making it slower. It is one of the primary reasons why PWA takes the driver’s seat in the space of application development.
Indexable and Engaging
The fact that PWAs are indexable and shareable & it is another essential benefit of using a PWA. They are web-based, and even on traditional search engines such as Google and Bing, the user can search for a PWA.
A progressive web app provides users with a mobile app-like experience, and users can access a PWA in the same way they used to access a native app. A native app’s engagement level on a PWA is available!
Performance
The main benefit of a PWA is that it is fast and sensitive. When loading a PWA, the consumer does not have to wait. It is no longer a secret that half of the online shoppers would abandon a website if it does not reply within 3 seconds to their clicks or taps. The real advantage of PWA is that it works markedly better. Users get the best experience even in bad network conditions, where a native app struggles in its speed.
No App-Store Charges and Automatic Updates
Automatic updates in a PWA function like basic website updates in which all the updating process takes place at the end of the server, enabling the end-user to always have an updated web app.
You will also have to pay subscription fees to the app stores where you choose to upload your native app, either as a company owner or a tech partner. Work with a PWA, and without impacting your website’s visibility, you avoid these charges.
Top E-commerce Progressive Web Applications
AliExpress
AliExpress is one of the biggest e-commerce stores in the world today & had a seasoned native mobile app, which looked all right but had its own set of issues, the key one would be the poor conversion rate.
AliExpress has provided its customers with a quicker and improved experience, as well as offline access, by switching to a PWA. Such a move raised the business conversion rate by 104 percent. Across all browsers, pages viewed per session almost doubled, and time spent per session increased by a massive 74 percent.
Flipkart
There was a peculiar challenge for the e-commerce giant in India. This was when India did not have a 3G network or a 4G network. The website with a 2G network was used by six out of ten Flipkart users, significantly improving the page loading time.
The company launched the PWA version known as Flipkart lite that can work even with slow connections. The PWA was successful in Flipkart & the conversion rate has increased by 70% and the engagement rate by 40%.
Lancome
Lancome is a premium French luxury perfume and cosmetics brand & a renowned company for its products. The issue with abandoned carts was a major challenge for the brand. The push notifications in the PWA version helped to improve the conversion rate. It also solves the issue of abandoned carts, even though there was slow connectivity, Lancome experienced a large increase in conversions.
Conclusion
The next big thing in e-commerce is PWAs. If you don’t have a PWA in your e-commerce store right now, you are losing a huge opportunity to interact with your customers.
The PWAs have gained popularity in the world of developers since their inception in 2015. To make the technology and user experience better, tech giants like Google and Microsoft are seriously interested in PWA exploration and research. Many progressive web app development companies are helping in developing PWAs for an e-commerce store. Hurry up to grab the opportunity and enhance your sales.
Author Bio
Vinay Varma is an experienced technical writer in Fusion Informatics, a leading Web & Mobile App Development Company. He specializes in technology related topics, has written on mobile app development, and several other cutting-edge technologies that are impacting the world. He is always keen on exploring newer inventions in technology, and sharing new things about app development through his specific writings.
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