PWA in eCommerce – Benefits, Challenges & Examples 

With smartphones becoming an essential aspect of our lives, technology has revolutionized how we live or shop today. Business owners are struggling to meet increasingly growing demands for better and more engaging customer experiences, quicker load times, faster access to knowledge and network independence. One of the most trending technologies that can help e-commerce businesses is progressive web apps(PWA).  

PWA is gaining immense popularity among businesses around all industries that are trying to adapt to the increasing number of mobile users. Before you hire a good PWA App Development Company, you must check out the main advantages & pitfalls behind PWA along with real-world examples of brands using PWA successfully. 

Understanding the Increasing Demand for PWA in eCommerce Businesses

PWA can be defined as a webpage having all the capabilities of a native mobile app. With the Progressive Web Application, you not only get an enhanced version of your page but your page also works faster, and more reliably and supports all the features that a native app must have like offline work, camera access, location access, etc. The best thing about PWA is that you no longer need to spend money on developing applications for each operating system and it operates both on a website and a mobile app offering a native-like user experience across any devices. 

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As we know eCommerce is becoming mobile-first, PWA is being implemented by several businesses irrespective of what your business sells. Here are some stats to show you- 

• eCommerce sales in the US are estimated to grow 4X from $128.4bn in 2019 to a whopping $553.3bn by 2024. 
• More than 1 bn customers across the globe use banking services via mobile devices and around 67% of total eCommerce purchases are done online via mobile. 

Additionally, if we talk about a global e-commerce sale, the highest conversions are reported for web pages having 0-2 seconds loading time. A recent study by Google reported that there has been a drastic 90% increase in the bounce rate if the web page loads in more than 3 seconds. This clearly shows that businesses are increasingly adapting to the new mobile reality and looking for cost-effective and fast solutions and that is where PWA comes into action. 

Benefits of Using PWA

As we can see the significance of PWA in transforming your business results, here are some of the main advantages of implementing PWA solutions that you must know before investing in a reliable Mobile App Development Company.  

• Quick Loading & Run Time 

The best thing about using PWA is that it runs faster than a website and sometimes even faster than the native application. Talking on an average scale, using PWA can boost its speed by up to 63% and the web pages load 2 to 4 times faster with PWA delivering an average loading speed of 2.75 seconds. 

• Easy installation 

Progressive web apps are known for delivering a user-friendly installation process directly from a web browser, providing a seamless experience for customers. This is very beneficial as ease of installation is one of the most crucial factors in reducing user abandonment and users don’t need to go through the complex procedures or app store visits to use PWA. 

• Simple to use 

Another factor is the simplicity of PWA which contributes tremendously to improving the overall user experience, thereby making it more likely for users to engage with and adopt PWA. Post installation, PWAs help to maintain a high level of accessibility by residing on users’ desktop home screens.  

• Offline support 

Another remarkable benefit of using PWA is that they function properly even in the offline mode. This unique feature enables users to interact with the app even when they are not connected to the Internet, which helps in keeping them engaged continuously. 

• Service Workers 

PWA make use of service workers to cache essential resources for a hassle-free offline experience, unlike traditional web apps. Thanks to Google which offers a wide range of official libraries, which helps in making the overall development process of PWA simple. These libraries help developers with tools & resources to conveniently integrate offline capabilities. 

• Web Push Notifications 

PWA can send notifications to users even when the web app is not open running in the background. This is possible with the help of push API, notification API and service workers. This feature allows users to receive timely updates, promotional offers, order tracking updates or new product launches. 

• Automatic Updates 

PWA ensures that they are updated automatically without user intervention as the app gets refreshed each time they are opened. This capability ensures that customers always have the latest version and enhances user experience by removing the need for manual updates making the web app stay updated consistently. 

• Cost-Effective 

One significant benefit of PWA is that the development of PWA takes less time and effort unlike the conventional method of development approach, which involves extensive processes. This helps in reducing costs, making PWA suitable for startups and businesses with low budgets. 

Weaknesses of Using PWA

After going through the benefits that PWA offers, here are some of the challenges associated with it- 

• Some browsers don’t support PWA, e.g. Mozilla doesn’t support PWA for desktop Firefox 
• There are a few problems associated with push notifications on iOS system like the browser Safari doesn’t support push notifications 
• Development and maintenance of PWA for an e-commerce business may require specialised expertise in web development. 

Some of the world-famous brands that are using PWA technology are Uber, BMW, Pinterest, Starbucks, Tinder, etc.  

Final Takeaways

PWA for eCommerce can bring massive changes in performance & deliver excellent business results. Especially, if you need app-like functionality & feel on the website or want to list your site on app stores and provide an app for the shopper, PWA is the right choice. However, PWAs can be expensive to maintain & more challenging to achieve high page speed & core web vital scores. 

If you are planning to integrate PWA capabilities into your eCommerce business, connect with the experts of Clavax, the Top AR app development company that enables businesses to build fast, appealing PWAs with user-centric designs, and enhanced user experiences. Choose PWA and make your business grow faster with cost-effective and fast solutions. 

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