Progressive Web Apps or PWAs entered the world of eCommerce in 2015 and although adopted pretty quickly by large enterprises, it has taken some time for growth within small to medium eCommerce businesses.

However, as more and more strategies revolve around improving mobile accessibility, PWAs are on the rise. 

In this short article, we’ll highlight what PWAs are and how they’re already benefiting eCommerce businesses. 

What is a Progressive Web App (PWA)

In short, a Progressive Web App is a way to replicate a native mobile app experience on a website - and often at a much lower cost than developing a mobile app. This includes being able to access the site offline and delivering push notifications. PWA technology is being driven by headless commerce, where the front-end of an eCommerce store is decoupled from the backend. By implementing PWA on the front-end, eCommerce businesses can deliver and control mobile app-like experiences whilst connecting through APIs that drive further conversion features.

Top Benefits of a PWA

1. Reduced development costs
Mobile apps often take a large amount of time to create and develop, and can therefore become quite costly. Other considerations include having to develop two versions, one as an iOS app and the other for Android. With a PWA, native app experiences can be replicated much quicker and cheaper as you only have to build one site that works across all devices. 

2. Speed
A slow loading site is one of the top reasons why a user may bounce from a website, so it’s incredibly important to have fast loading pages. PWAs are designed to be incredibly quick and smooth across all devices - this is attributed to modern technologies and frameworks that can easily deliver speedy user experiences. 

3. Deliver greater user experiences
Not only is speed an enhanced user experience but a PWA can be accessed offline. So when a user has no internet connection, they can still browse the site at their leisure. With a PWA, you can send push notifications directly to your audience, this is a small but useful pop up that can supply everything from promotions, discounts, latest products and even customer support. All this drives customer satisfaction and loyalty.  

4. Increase conversions
‍And most importantly, due to all the factors above, PWAs can deliver higher conversion rates and you have more control and ways of interacting with your consumers.

How to get started with a PWA

If you’re already looking to re-platform or want to boost the performance of your existing store, now is a good time to start thinking about converting to a PWA. As a front-end eCommerce solution, you can add PWA to our Peracto platform, Shopify Plus and BigCommerce platforms to start driving increased customer engagement and site performance.

Chat with our team to find out more about Progressive Web Apps.