Imagine that you are standing at a tram stop and you have to move quickly from point A to B. Using the phone, you decide to check the timetable of an incoming tram, you have a few seconds to do it. You go to a website and it won’t load. Unfortunately, the tram has departed … Such situations concern many websites, they irritate users, especially those using mobile devices, because they usually expect quick access to information. Each encountered obstacle discourages them, and then they abandon the website. From year to year, mobile users dynamically grow and it is companies that have to adapt to them. How to do it?

Progressive Web Apps – what are the benefits for the user?

In the previous article, we presented the idea of Progressive Web Applications (PWA). In this article, we will focus on the advantages and challenges of these applications for the eCommerce sector.

• Offline accesibility – a temporary lack of access to the Internet on a mobile device, in particular when being outside the network range, is not so terrible. Users can freely browse the product catalogs of their favorite online stores.
• Responsiveness – Progressive Web Applications work efficiently on any device size (mobile / tablet / desktop).
• Availability – the user has an online store icon saved on the desktop of the mobile device and does not have to search for it in the internet search engine.
• Easier update – there is no need to wait and download the latest updates from Google Play or App Store, because the application updates itself. It is enough that the phone has access to the Internet.
• Speed – PWA load even under 1 second because they download a small amount of data over the network. This advantage is especially useful on journeys where internet quality may be degraded.

Progressive Web apps – benefits for eCommerce businesses

• Optimization of costs and implementation time – there is no need to create a separate team dedicated to native mobile applications. Thanks to the logistic separation of the interface from the platform’s back-end, making changes to the front-end part of the application is not expensive. Once programmed, the front-end will be displayed correctly on both Android and iOS devices. Additionally, there is no need for paid developer accounts on Google Play or the App Store.
• Independence from the back-end layer – the PWA front-end layer can be connected to any existing eCommerce, even those operating in older technology. This is especially important as any change to eCommerce technology can generate high costs.
• SEO – PWA applications are indexed in search engines and promoted by Google.
• Greater user involvement – the e-shop icon displayed on the phone’s desktop increases the loyalty of the customer, who can quickly and easily browse the offer of the online store. What’s more, push notifications keep the customer up to date with all news and promotions.
• Easier update – thanks to the operation only in the front-end, the PWA can be updated without interruption, in a way that is not visible to users.

Challanges for the Progressive Web Applications

• System load – PWA applications are written in high-level web code, hence the mobile device needs more resources to properly process PWA.
• Lower performance – the use of PWA is a problem for creating advanced games or applications that have complex animations and require large computing resources.
• Lack of use of all phone functions – PWA does not support:
  • Bluetooth
  • Light sensor
  • NFC
  • Contact book

Are you looking for an experienced PWA implementation team for your eCommerce? Contact us! We know how to create applications that will take your business to the next level.