Experimenting with new technology for an online marketplace can be scary, but should you be afraid of PWA?
Progressive Web App is the talk of the town, and the praises for its benefits have no end, yet, when it comes to investing in it, the cloud of suspicion forms in our head and gets stuck at one and the same point, “whether to invest or not?”
Nowadays, eCommerce Marketplaces with ‘PWA – Progressive Web App’ are boosting their revenues. And, to help you do so, to understand the technology and its aspects in better way, MobiCommerce team thought to come up with a full-fledged knowledge sharing session through Webinar. MobiCommerce is one of the early initiators to introduce PWA eCommerce technology with advance technological features.
Webinar outlines,
Register yourself now and learn all you need to know about PWA marketplace solution.
Date: 27th November, 2019
Wednesday | 12.30 PM to 1.30 PM GMT
Presenters:
Danish Hussain – BDM, eCommerce
Dipika Jadwani – Marketing Communication expert
Google first introduced Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in 2015 with an aim to reduce app fatigue and poor app discovery rates by creating an enhanced website that could function just like a native mobile app.
In the last two years, PWAs have proven to achieve 50% higher conversion rates for eCommerce companies along with a better customer experience and higher searchability on the web app.
No wonder popular eCommerce brands like Alibaba, MakeMyTrip, Jumia, and George.com launched their PWA-enabled websites!
Did you know Alibaba achieved 76% higher conversions across the web and mobile browsers and increased its interaction rate from Add to Home screen by four times – all because of its web app!
Unlike native apps, PWAs are written in standard web languages, don’t require any installation and run on web browsers.
The fact that they have an advanced loading experience and better internet discoverability cost a fraction of what it takes to build a native mobile app and can be accessed offline makes them all the more appealing!
Soon, PWAs are expected to replace many Android and iOS apps and currently have enough strength to improve the mobile platform. The development and maintenance costs alone are supposed to be higher than 33% if a PWA can serve all mobile web needs.
In 2018, Magento rolled out the PWA Studio – a suite of tools for developers and merchants to use to build and maintain eCommerce storefronts, with an app-like functionality, on top of Magento 2.
The Studio enables a framework which adheres to the Magento “principle of extensibility.”
That means the framework allows easy addition of new functionalities and capabilities as and when it grows – which is ideal in the case of eCommerce sites that are continually adding new product pages or upgrading user-interface.
There are three primary tools that Magento’s PWA Studio includes:
1. A PWA-buildpack that comprises development tools for a Magento PWA storefront.
2. Peregrine which contains UI components for a Magento PWA.
3. Venia, a proof of concept of Magento 2 that is built using the PWA Studio tools.
On further research, we found that the Studio boasts of the following four core features:
Adding to that, here are five basic concepts of the Magento PWA Studio make it a favorable choice when it comes developing PWAs:
1) Application Shell
What is that, you ask? It is a simple PHTML file that is curated at the beginning of a project and is rarely edited as the project progresses and evolves.
The Application Shells forms the basis for the HTML response and holds responsibility for:
2) Application framework
Once the PWA is up and running on the Magento platform, it only interacts with the data via API calls. That is because it runs on a new core JavaScript framework which ensures a unidirectional data flow pattern.
3) API layer
The functionality enables the developer to work on a new style of API and on new methods that can provider lighter and more customized responses, unlike the REST designs. Such a feature enables the PWA to provide a web experience to its users that is similar to native mobile apps.
4) React
If your goal is to create an interactive UI, then you must deploy React which is a JavaScript library for user interfaces. It expedites the PWA development by:
5) GraphQL
If you are looking for an alternative to REST endpoints, then GraphQL is ideal. It’s mainly a service layer of the service and data query language of the client.
A single GraphQL can comprise requests for combinations of multiple data sets. PWAs decrease the server call numbers and data returned amount, and thus enhance the performance.
The world of PWA is transforming rapidly, and Magento PWA Studio is expected to be the next big thing for the mobile web. With so many attractive features in the kitty, that isn’t surprising at all!
However, if the Magento PWA Studio is not your cup of tea, other options in the market can build your eCommerce storefront PWA for even a better deal.
Now that we have rung in the New Year, one thing is for sure – “mobile” is still very important for consumers and businesses alike! Let us tell you why:
Mobile is now seen as the first digital touch with consumers. It is undoubtedly the new battleground for businesses, and eCommerce brands specifically are leveraging that in a significant way. They are continually looking for new ways to target and engage their customers.
That’s where Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) enter the picture.
(Source – https://www.applozic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PWA.png)
Google introduced the PWA technology in 2015 with an aim to create an enhanced website with an app-like functionality, and thus combat the constant problem of app fatigue and poor app discover rates.
The technology is known for a gamut of benefits, including:
1) Improved loading experience
Mobile websites that take more than three seconds to load have already lost 53% of their traffic. To add to it, a 100-millisecond delay can cost 7% of the conversion rate on the website, and that is a number that businesses can’t ignore.
2) Active push notifications
The user gets notified on his or her device even when the progressive web application is not open in any browser. 2.7x more people are likely to open and click a push notification as compared to an email. The feature helps eCommerce brands lock in more conversions. Retail chains like Lancome and Starbucks are known for their excellent PWA-enabled sites. Ever browsed through them?
3) Better internet discoverability
The end goal for any business is to get discovered by their customers. A progressive web app is easily discoverable by search engines because it’s full of content and if appropriately optimized, a web app can fetch good search results.
4) Offline usage
(source – https://brooklynseo.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web-design-brooklyn-cg-media-692×576.jpg
Whatever content is downloaded on the web app works even when the device is not connected to any Wi-Fi with the support of a Service Worker which is a script that the browser runs separately in the background. This means your customers can even access your PWA-enabled site in locations with spotty internet connectivity.
5) App-like navigation
The UX and UI of a PWA are similar to a mobile app, but here, you don’t need to search for it in the app store and download it to use it. It’s fully responsive and eliminates any lags or jerky transitions to ensure a smooth user interaction.
A PWA is served via HTTPS to ensure the web content isn’t tampered with and to prevent snooping.
(source – https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/0*6lsqh6xg_UzpRs9A.png
PWAs leverage technologies like Service Workers, Cache API, Web App Manifests to provide a web experience similar to native mobile apps.
In the last two years, they have proven to get 50% higher conversions for eCommerce brands and helped to improve the customer experience on the web app.
Recommended blog: Why Progressive Web Apps Are Important for Businesses?
George.com, Alibaba, Jumia, eXtra, MakeMyTrip and Flipkart are some of the most popular global brands in the eCommerce industry to have launched a PWA-enabled website. Social sharing platform Pinterest observed an increase in engagement by 60% and a rise in user-generated revenue by 40%.
So how does a PWA affect SEO? In more ways than you can imagine.
1) If an eCommerce PWA, serving contents from multiple resources, uses rel=canonical tags, it avoids any content violations.
2) If a web app page is available through a specific URL that does not make use of any fragment identifiers (#), Google crawls that page often which further helps in search rankings.
3) To ensure that the content of each page on the web app is indexable, it is necessary to use the feature of server-side rendering (SSR). Google’s master tool called Fetch and Render tool tests how Google Bots see and index a page.
4) Since PWAS are identifiable as “apps” thanks to Service Workers and W3C Manifests, it helps search engines to find the progressive web applications better and faster.
5) The number of embedded resources on the pages of a web app is considerably less as compared to a desktop site. This helps in faster loading of the pages. No wonder PWAs load better and quicker!
1) Apple has always remained fresh and at the top of their game. However, the tech giant chose to ignore PWAs, when they first came into the picture. However, things have changed and how. Now even iOS devices support the technology as Apple feels PWAs have stood the test of time.
2) Google states PWA compliance standards have secured a perfect score of 100%. According to Mobile Marketer, the mobile conversions of online retailer Luxmart doubled and reached 1.24% since the launch of their PWA-enabled website.
3) Now that major tech companies like Apple and Google are wholeheartedly adopting the technology, it has convinced web developers around the world to write the coding of web apps just once and then deploy to different sites.
Wrapping up
Progressive web apps for Android and iOS are in the making on a massive scale in 2019 – for various industries, and eCommerce is no exception.
MobiCommerce, a progressive web app builder, completely understands if your customers don’t find it easy to purchase your products, you are losing sales to competitors. You need to be where your customers are! We will build a responsive, SEO-optimized PWA for your eCommerce business that enables more consumers to find you easily.
Looking for a one-stop-solution commerce solution? Contact us today, and a member of our staff will reach out to you at the earliest to learn about your requirements.
Only the best! Check it out for yourself:
Mobi commerce has completed many projects for us, on time, and have been extremely responsive to our needs.
They have created custom updates for us that we have paid for and the system works amazing with our Magento site at www.totalinksolutions.com
Thank you for your work guys!
The apps have been delivered and are in the process of being published in the stores. Mobicommerce instituted an effective communication plan and displayed top-level technical skills.
Our experience with Mobicommerce was exciting. They have created a great app. They easily solved all of our problems and provide incredible support. All this happened very quickly! They are definitely the best team I have worked with till now. There is no comparison with any of our tasks or requirement.
We were quite impressed with the approach that each member considers the minute detail about the project.
Mobicommerce’s efforts not only helped the company grow its brand in the digital landscape, but they were able to help increase its sale on the product's launch. The client credits the team's approach to project management to their initial success, citing it as seamless and efficient.
We used our application development with MobiCommerce. It is the excellent application that I've ever been used. There have many awesome features and the cool UI design. Finally I'm really grateful to working with MobiCommerce. The support team and the technical team are very helpful to our product. I'm very thankful to the technical team.
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