Progressive Web App is now a rising star in the technology industry. Many e-commerce businesses are investing in PWA in order to raise the quality of their current online stores. This post will provide basic knowledge of this technology such as how PWA works so you would find it easier to find a PWA development company and start the integration process.
What Is PWA?
PWA stands for Progressive Web App.
There are different PWA definitions. In simple words, this is the perfect hybrid of a website and an app. PWA can help merchants deliver an app-like experience to website users.
Some customers are surprised to find out that they are using PWA instead of the app since there are not many differences between these 2 platforms.
How PWA Works
To understand how PWA works, we will see the changes in the structure of the online store and the new features added by this technology.
New structure:
Progressive Web App changes the current structure of the store. The web frontend is converted to a more powerful and flexible PWA storefront.
The new storefront and web backend are connected by APIs (Application Programming Interface).
Core features:
Add to the home screen:
There is only one step in the Progressive Web App’s “downloading” process. Approving the request of “add to home screen” on the website and then PWA will be instantly installed on the device.
Another benefit of using PWA is its small space in the memory. The reason behind its low data usage is that PWA just creates a shortcut to the website. Hence, customers can install several Progressive Web Apps and still have plenty of space for downloading other stuff in the future.
Offline mode:
Low-quality connection or even no connection is not a problem when the website is integrated with PWA. This function works with preloaded data.
Service Worker from Google supports this feature and it allows PWA to precache this data in the device.
This function works great with people who live in areas where Internet connection is rare or those who need to spend a lot of time traveling by public transport. Customers can spend this time viewing the products and then consider which one they should purchase.
Background sync:
Progressive Web Application can save the last action of customers when the connection gets lost. It might be rather irritating for consumers to refill their information again after reconnection. Sometimes, they even forget to revisit their shopping cart.
Thus, background sync enables customers to continue order when offline and the store owners will proceed with the purchase after reconnection.
Fast speed
PWA makes the loading speed 2-3 times faster than the old site.
Precaching technology assists this feature as it saves the pages that are loaded previously. . Hence, any information on the site only needs time to load for the first view.
The layout is maintained when switching to different pages which helps minimize the total loading time.
Push notification
This feature from PWA acts in the same way with other notifications from apps on the devices. Also, merchants can customize the content of notifications.
Stores can increase the likelihood of clicking the notifications to access the store by keeping it short but intriguing, sending the reminder during the time when users are most active.
Searchable and Linkable
PWA does not change the website completely as it still has a URL. This means customers can search from Google. This is another strength of PWA to beat its rivals – the native app. We can only find apps on the App Store.
Responsive level
PWA makes certain changes in content and layout for different devices based on the screen size.
What customers find uncomfortable when surfing the website is that it is not so mobile-friendly. Some websites are designed for laptop users only as the storefront on mobile phones has really small letters or images, making it difficult to read and see.
Progressive Web App help fix this issue and users can now switch from device to device with ease.
Final Words
We hope merchants can understand Progressive Web App better through our post and figure out how PWA works.
PWA technology can bring a better experience to store visitors and promise more future orders coming to the store. Investment in building Progressive Web App will also boost online sales and the increase in sales will soon exceed the money paid for PWA integration.
Start the plan for PWA development as soon as possible and wait to see its magic to transform your store!