Ever since the popularization of PWA development in 2015, the cross-platform software has changed. The new technology allows you to create applications that are consistent across all platforms. You don’t even need to install them. The one business sphere that benefits the most from it is eCommerce. Let’s look at the reasons why this is the case.
This is still a question for a large number of companies. What is PWA technology? In essence, a progressive web app is a web application that has the full functionality of a native app. Rather than a specific technology, it is more of a set of guidelines and principles. In fact, Google has published a checklist of standards as to what is considered a PWA.
The functionality available in modern browsers allows you to create pages with features similar to fully fledged applications. The most defining one is the offline mode. However, the range of their capabilities also includes push notifications, home screen installation, background processing and more.
According to these standards, there are three key benefits you get from adopting PWA:
The relevance is best illustrated by showing who has benefited from adopting this technology for their eCommerce business. Among these companies are leaders of their respective fields. For example:
First of all, to be successful, you need to establish yourself on the mobile market. It accounts for 60% of all traffic and that percentage continues to grow. However, the conversion rates are low (only 16%). There are many reasons for this. For example, people don’t want to download separate apps for each online shop. In fact, analyzing monthly download statistics, more than half of all users don’t install any new apps at all on any given month. So how can a PWA eCommerce help overcome that?
You can get it set up comparatively quickly. The eCommerce app development times are quicker than they’d be for a dedicated app for both iOS and Android. The costs are lower because of that as well. The basic formula for a progressive web app is a single page application (SPA) that can be added to the home screen, go fullscreen and send push notifications.
Instead of keeping up with the different issues on separate platforms and updating them separately you have only one cross-platform version to worry about. It is a lot easier since it doesn’t even require knowledge of mobile platforms. You can also save on the maintenance cost. Speaking of saving money, you also won’t have to pay a percentage to app stores if you don’t want to.
Since this type of app stores its content in the cache it works smoothly regardless of the internet connection, which can periodically slow down or even disconnect completely and the PWA will still work perfectly. This way your clients can browse your online store whenever they want.
Progressive web applications are websites by design. This means they can be found through search engines. In fact, 93% of all online experiences start there, says the SEJ research. You can take advantage of that by optimizing the content and increasing the number of visitors as a result.
As mentioned before, people don’t like downloading new apps when it can be avoided. The storage space of their devices is limited and there has been a noticeable “app fatigue” among mobile users. The eCommerce software of that nature solves both of those problems – the size is substantially smaller and it can operate without any installation at all.
Since a PWA is largely a combination of a website and a native application, it combines in itself the benefits of both technologies. For example, it is both linkable through a URL and is safe and installable at the same time.
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The benefits of PWA don’t stop at online shops, however. They work well with other enterprise software, – in particular, with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. These services can encompass all branches of eCommerce from financial data analysis to logistics, manufacturing operations management, and business intelligence.
When comparing PWA to native apps there is another point that makes the former more appealing: the integration of progressive web applications with ERP systems is easier to do. This is a big deal for multiple reasons. By integrating them together you get benefits such as:
As you can see, eCommerce software developers can create a fruitful PWA for your business, especially when used alongside ERP systems. Taking the best features of both web and mobile applications allows you to tailor this technology to your specific field. The ability to work offline, and drive engagement via push notifications without any need for installation makes this set of standards the perfect solutions for eCommerce. Check out our case study to see how we have developed a web application for a pizza chain for even more details.