Working in e-commerce requires to constant researching in order to get the latest innovation in software development to provide your customers with the best experience when shopping online.
PWA, which stands for Progressive Web Apps, started seven years ago, when Alex Russell introduced the concept of a solution to the multi-screen market challenges.
At that time, e-commerce was growing fast and how to deal with customers using different devices to access e-shops was a major issue. Web pages designed for desktop users didn’t respond completely well to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Thus, many were forced to create applications for mobile e-commerce.
But, thanks to Progressive Web App features, now it is completely possible to have one single web app that is completely functional and adaptative, both for desktop computers and mobile devices.
Which are the main Progressive Web App features and how does this new technology it works? Keep reading this article if you want to learn more about PWA and why it is crucial for your e-commerce business.
When was PWA first introduced?
Progressive Web App emerged as a response to the popularization of mobile devices. All of the sudden, it became clear that mobile user experiences needed to be considered first when designing interfaces for e-commerce.
Up to that point, everybody was thinking about webpages and marketing strategies were focused on how to approach desktop or laptop users.
Many people believe that it was Steve Jobs who, at the introduction of iPhone. First pointed that mobile user experiences were what everybody should be thinking on when creating an e-commerce interface.
Some years later, the numbers confirmed what Steve Jobs said. In 2014, mobile device users surpassed desktop users for the first time and almost a decade later, retail mobile commerce sales account for almost 45% of the operations within the United States.
During 2016, Google confirmed this trend by also adopted a mobile-first approach and a few years later started mobile-first indexing.
How does PWA works?
Let’s start for the basic. Progressive Web Application (PWA) is a special type of application, called web app, that works perfectly as a web page and a mobile application.
The aim of PWA is to provide customers with a solution for their e-commerce interfaces, because with PWA you will always get a native-like user experience, no matter how you access the interface.
Thus, PWA avoid issues associated with conversion among web pages and mobile applications, allowing customers to easily shop online, without dealing with any compatibility issue.
The languages used to create PWA are HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Through them, the web app can behave just like a web page, but with mobile application functionalities, such as loading instantly, provide an immersive experience, and working offline.
Which are the benefits of PWA?
There are many benefits associated with implementing PWA to your e-commerce business. The most relevant it is that through PWA you can easily get into the mobile world with your business.
PWA are quite easy to set allowing you to approach your mobile or desktop customers with a completely adaptative interface just within a few months.
Also, by implementing PWA you can avoid developing two different interfaces: a website and a separate native mobile app. Instead, you can create just one web app that functions flaw lessly on any device. Thus, not only you will have a single web application to take care of, but you will also save money in development and maintenance.
Another benefit of PWA is that your customers won’t need to get into an app store to download the web app, since it can be installed directly from the mobile browser, avoiding the fee that some app stores charge when downloading from them.
Last, one of the major benefits of implementing PWA is that they are great with SEO results. Since Google adopted the mobile-first approach, having a PWA will help your business being rapidly indexed by search engines.
To sum up, in a world where mobile devices are leading e-commerce, implementing PWA technology will definitely bring many benefits to your business: from securing a great user experience, no matter how each of your customers reach your business, to improving your positioning on searching engines.
