Have you ever seen the “Add to Home Screen” popup when you were browsing a certain website? And did you perhaps click on it and see the icon of that particular website instantly appear on the home screen of your device besides your other regular mobile apps?
Well, that’s what a Progressive Web App does. And today, they’re extremely powerful for eCommerce businesses.
In this post, we’ve explained how PWAs are changing the eCommerce landscape compared to native mobile apps & mobile websites.
What is Progressive Web App?
Progressive Web App or simply PWA is a hybrid of a regular website and a native mobile app. It gives a website the look and feel of a native app but is accessible via a web browser.
Put another way, PWA combines the best features of modern browsers with the benefits of the mobile app experience.
They are built using common web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and are able to work on any device with a standard web browser.
Compared to native mobile apps and mobile websites, PWAs cost significantly less and are quicker to build.
In fact, building a PWA for an eCommerce business is considered the wisest choice rather than building native mobile apps or mobile websites.
Below, we have explained the downsides of both, building native app & mobile websites, for eCommerce businesses.
The downside of Building Native App for eCommerce Business
The native mobile app boom is rapidly tapering off.
According to recent research by Vox, the go-go growth days for native mobile apps are long gone.
In fact, even though Apple App Store & Google Play Store offer limitless numbers of apps, the number of smartphone users making purchases through native mobile apps is consistently decreasing.
In other words, smartphone users no longer download massive native apps just to make a purchase online once in a while.
And turns out, there are many different reasons for this changed behavior.
For starters, people use eCommerce apps very rarely. So, most of the time unused apps just sit on the shelves collecting dust.
Secondly, native app downloads take time & storage. The average iOS app is about 34.3 MB while the average Android app is about 11.5 MB.
But, many of the native apps are quite heavier than average, taking away precious time as well as storage space.
The Downside of Building Mobile Website for eCommerce Business
The majority of eCommerce businesses have already built mobile-friendly eCommerce stores to cater to any mobile user.
But today, mobile-friendly websites are not sufficient to maximize revenue opportunities.
In fact, people nowadays find it difficult to purchase from mobile websites because they’re often not user-friendly and considerably slow.
Many studies also revealed stats that:
- If the number of text, images, and other elements increases from 400 to 6,000, the chances of conversion drop 95%.
- If the page load time increases from 1 second to 10 seconds, the bounce rate of mobile users increases by 123%.
- 78% of online customers prefer browsing an eCommerce store from an app instead of a website.
In conclusion, native mobile apps and mobile websites have their individual downsides that ultimately generate challenges for convenient shopping.
Solution? – Progressive Web Apps!
Why PWAs are the Next Big Thing in eCommerce?
Google, in 2015, launched progressive web apps – an ideal alternative for both native mobile apps as well as mobile websites.
PWAs are a modern solution to deliver an app-like experience on smartphone devices without the necessity to install a native mobile app.
Ever since its launch, globally leading brands such as Twitter, Starbucks, etc. have adopted the PWA technology and witnessed a massive impact on their businesses.
Not only that but lots of eCommerce businesses such as Flipkart, Lancome, and others adopted the PWA technology and reported incredible growth.
Recommended: Top Brands have Achieved Success after Implementing Progressive Web App
Lancome USA, for example, is a famous French luxury cosmetics company that sells its products internationally through its online store.
In 2016, the company migrated from a standard online store to a PWA store hoping to achieve further growth and witnessed the following results:
- 8% increase in recovered shopping carts conversion rate
- 17% increase in overall conversion rate
- 53% increase in overall mobile sessions
Flipkart, on the other hand, is a famous eCommerce marketplace company in India. They recently adopted the PWA technology and witnessed the following outcome:
- 40% increase in overall engagement rate
- 70% increase in overall conversion rate
Why eCommerce Businesses Should Build PWA Store?
PWAs are undoubtedly the best alternative for native mobile apps & regular websites.
They keep all the advantages of native apps – push notifications, deliver localized content, app-like experience – as well as regular websites – available from a web browser, does not require downloading, discoverable for search engines.
That being said, let’s check out how this all is beneficial for eCommerce businesses.
- Native App-Like Experience
PWAs not only look and function like native mobile apps with intuitive UI & UX, but they also provide smooth website performance which regular online store websites lack.
- Compactness
As we mentioned earlier, native apps are heavy, they take up a lot of storage space while customers rarely use them. This often results in customers deleting them. But since a PWA is downloaded and run on a web browser, the storage space issue doesn’t become a problem.
- Ability to Work Offline
PWAs are capable of working even when customers are offline or if there is a network connectivity issue, which a native mobile app and regular website can’t provide.
Furthermore, the offline functionality allows customers to look through their wishlist, orders, etc., and change them wherever they are.
- Costs Less to Develop
PWAs cost significantly less to develop compared to both native mobile apps as well as regular websites. For example, native mobile app development can cost $80,000 USD on average, while PWA development costs just around $15,000 USD on average.
- Installation is Not Mandatory
This is probably the best advantage of PWA from the customers’ point of view. Unlike native mobile apps, customers don’t necessarily need to go to an app store, download your app, and install it.
Instead, they can directly access your PWA store from the web browser through your store URL and add it to their home screen directly from the browser.
- Push Notifications
Just like a native mobile app, PWAs can also send push notifications to your customers and keep them informed about upcoming events, discount offers, and new arrivals in your eCommerce store.
This is probably the best feature to bring back lost customers and inspire them to complete their purchases.
Summary
Today, PWA is the best option to deliver a seamless & convenient shopping experience to your customers.
And the good news is, adopting PWA technology isn’t an extremely intensive process. Although, it does require some level of development and it’s best if done by professionals.
But, if your eCommerce store is built upon Magento 2 platform, then converting it into a PWA store is relatively doable.
Being a prominent Magento commerce agency, we’ve helped dozens of eCommerce businesses to adopt PWA technology through MageDelight Magento 2 PWA Solution.
So, if you’re serious about converting your store into PWA, we’ll be glad to assist you. Feel free to contact us at any time for our professional assistance.
