Progressive Web Applications (PWA) has been the talk of the town of the eCommerce town for a long time. The merchants who are ready to start with the new Magento 2 frontend concept are wondering what all this buzz is about. They are confused whether they should invest in PWA or not, and if yes, how big should the investment be?
If you are still standing on this fence of Magento, and thinking about crossing it or not this rundown of questions is for you. We have tried to answer each and every question from a merchant’s perspective.
What is the main advantage of Progressive Web Apps over native apps or a responsive website?
PWAs are quite similar to native apps but, they do not mimic all their features. PWAs are better because they do not take much time to deploy; there is no requirement of lengthy approvals and the update is completed in a single instance. It saves you from the trouble of native app update on Android platform followed by the iOS one and then worrying about the website. Everything is sorted out at one single place.
Apart from this, what your customers will really enjoy will be the freedom from the need for downloading the application from Google or Apple store. PWAs can be added to the home screen of your smartphone from the browser directly.
And too much to your surprise, all this will be done in just a fraction of the money you would have spent for getting a native app.
When compared to websites, PWAs are far more responsive.
PWA is valuable for mobile users. What if I prefer desktop over my smartphone?
PWAs were primarily evolved around the idea of benefitting mobile users and finding mobile solutions. However, the kind of performance improvements PWA have brought, the desktop interface will get equal attendance. The visitors of your website will take advantage of these performance improvements regardless of the device they are accessing their website from.
Moving forward, desktop PWA will make their way soon. Many browsers are all set to support desktop PWAs and creating the full PWA websites will be the next big step.
It will be really great to adopt the concept of PWA on time so that you would have to face fewer challenges when the whole world will go full-PWA.
I never needed native apps..I don’t need them now as well. Why start now?
Ok. We agree that you don’t need any native app for your eCommerce. In that case, your customers must be accessing your website through their smartphones only (you need to check your analytics now). You know that the mobile sessions usually take much lesser time than the desktop sessions. So, the key point is users always choose a more comfortable experience for the shopping experience.
PWAs greatly optimise the mobile experience and increase the conversion rate. And, it will definitely happen if your customers have never used the wonderful features of a native-like app.
The enhanced loading time, better ability to access and availability in offline mode are the main benefits of the PWA.
What is the cost of getting the full eCommerce PWA website?
Ideally, you need to pay somewhat equal to you pay for your “regular” eCommerce projects. It depends on the needs and requirements of your project, how many PWA components you need to install and how many complex workflows you need to integrate.
You can always get in touch with solution partners to calculate the actual cost and preparation time of your project. However, the investment in the new PWA drive eCommerce solutions gets you native-like standalone apps compatible to all Android and iOS smartphones.
The tremendous benefits will eventually outweigh the initial investment. Plus, the upgrade for the future is the bonus.
