Ever since smartphones have become common in people's daily lives, it has been replacing computers in various applications. One such application is ecommerce. While during the early years, we relied on computers and websites to make online purchases; today, the scenario has changed.
As more and more purchases are being made on mobile, various methods have been developed to create a mobile presence for e-commerce websites. One of them is the use of mobile applications that we all are very familiar with. Next is the responsive web design, which enables customers to view websites from smartphones just like on desktops.
And the last one, which is our topic of discussion in this blog, is Progressive web apps (PWAs). PWAs were first introduced in 2015 and were widely adopted by several popular companies, like Alibaba, Pinterest, etc.
So, what is a PWA? A PWA is a software that acts as a combination of website and mobile apps. The user experience provided by PWAs are similar to that of native apps. PWAs work in the browser, so you don't have to download the app from the app store or play store. This is one of the most popular features of PWAs.
A great example of PWA is Twitter. I personally use Twitter from the browser and love the experience. It has all the features of the native app and functions just the same. I use the app whenever I want to. And it does not take any storage in my phone or fuel my social media addiction with notification messages! A win-win, isn't it?
Now let us see the benefits of PWAs and why ecommerce merchants should consider this approach for their ecommerce app development.
They are easy to develop
Since mobile apps can run on different platforms, to develop a mobile application, developers have to be well aware of the platform-specific technologies for Android, iOS and Windows. It requires a lot of effort on the developer's part to be experts in all the varying standards.
For PWA, this problem is not present as web apps are built using independent standards. So there is no need to gain expertise in various platform implementations or APIs. Hence they are easier to develop.
They have reduced development cost
Compared to native apps, progressive apps have a lower development cost. This is because the same code base can be reused for developing apps on different platforms, like Android and iOS. So there is no need to code separately for each.
This saves a massive amount of time during development. And thus reduces the cost of e-commerce app development significantly. The same functionalities can be provided for users of various platforms with one-time code development.
Faster loading time
Page loading speed is a critical factor for e-commerce apps. If an ecommerce page takes a lot of time to load, people will just abandon it and search for similar products elsewhere. Speed of loading is an aspect that makes the cut when it comes to user adoption.
In this aspect, PWAs are much more performant than responsive websites. They load super fast and provide great performance, comparable to that of native apps. PWAs achieve this by pre-loading contents on a page while the customer is browsing. Thus, since the content is already loaded at the time of opening the page, it can be shown instantly to customers.
No downloads required
Everybody does not like downloads. Mainly, people download apps because they have no other option. Apps take up precious space in people's smartphones, require frequent updates to work smoothly, and sometimes distract with their notifications and messages.
If they were to get the same user experience without any downloads, the majority of them would definitely choose that option. PWAs provide that option. It offers a near native-app-like experience without any downloads or updates. This will bring more traffic to an ecommerce platform.
Better searching and Increased visibility
Searching for mobile apps is not an easy feat. Even when we know the name of an app, it is difficult to find the exact app we need. And there is no way to find out other than downloading the app and checking. But since PWAs are web-based, they can be viewed through web searches which is a great advantage for users.
Also, because PWAs are web-based, they have more visibility as compared to native apps. In effect, they are like searchable web pages, so they have increased visibility.
Conclusion
Progressive web apps promise to be a solution that will have a lot of weightage in the future. Since there are users who are looking for an alternative technology that demands fewer resources, are lightweight, and easier to use than mobile apps and responsive websites, the need for progressive web apps are real and existent. Thus, it would be a visionary act for ecommerce merchants to get into progressive web app development.
