14 Best Progressive Web Apps (PWA) Examples For Retail & eCommerce 2024

1. 14 Best Progressive Web Apps (PWA) Examples For Retail & eCommerce 2024 As consumers expect a frictionless shopping experience, businesses embrace enhanced web applications. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) stand out as one of the most viable solutions for providing an interactive shopping experience. Feeling unsure about where to start? This article will cover the best progressive web apps (PWA) examples for retail and ecommerce that suit your needs! What is a progressive web app? A progressive web app (PWA) is a web that includes functions like a native app. Developed with common technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, PWA is easier to develop and more time-saving than building an application from scratch. Benefits of PWAs for retail and eCommerce: ● Enhanced user experience: Thanks to its responsive user interface, users can enjoy a smooth shopping experience. You can expect the customers to interact more with your website with the easy navigation. ● Improved performance: PWAs use service workers to cache data. This means users can enjoy a faster loading speed when in low-connectivity. ● Time-saving: Users can add PWAs to their device’s home screen in a few clicks instead of installing a native app, which can be time-consuming. ● Cost-effective: For businesses with limited budgets, PWAs are to go for. Developing a single PWA can be more cost-efficient than developing a native app. ● Secure: PWAs use HTTPS security protocols to secure customers’ online transactions. Thus, you can enhance customer retention rates and increase customer confidence in buying through PWA. Because of such positive influences on retail and eCommerce, PWA technology is also applied in retail management systems to speed up retail operations without any interruption by the poor Internet. What makes a good PWA? A good progressive web app includes many criteria:

2. ● Reliable: PWAs should be reliable, providing a consistent experience regardless of network conditions. ● Fast: Speed is important. PWAs are designed to load quickly, ensuring users can access content and functionality swiftly, even on less powerful devices. ● Engaging: The user interface of a PWA should be intuitive, user-friendly, and visually appealing. ● Offline: One of the key features of PWAs is the ability to work offline or with limited connectivity. A good PWA should provide essential functionalities even when the user is not internet-connected. ● App-Like: PWAs aim to deliver an app-like experience within a web browser. This includes features like smooth transitions and gestures,… ● Push Notifications: PWAs can leverage push notifications to re-engage users and provide timely updates. PWAs are becoming more popular and widely adopted by ecommerce and retailers. Specifically, 9% of eCommerce companies intend to invest in Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), while 8% have already integrated them into their platforms, indicating a growing trend in adoption. The decision to transition to PWAs proves to be beneficial for ecommerce stores. Google highlights that businesses making the switch typically witness a substantial 20% increase in overall revenue, with a doubling of conversion rates on mobile devices in some instances. Besides, companies embracing PWAs often experience a surge in user engagement, from 20% to 250%. PWAs’ popularity can be attributed to their effectiveness in addressing the evolving user behavior. As 65% of users do not download any apps on their phones, PWAs provide a smoother gateway for online consumers to engage with ecommerce websites. Progressive Web Apps Examples Need some inspiration to revamp your e-commerce website? Because you’re in the right place! Let’s take a look at these e-commerce and retail PWA examples: 1. AliExpress

3. Aliexpress is one of the leading e-commerce international marketplaces. Since its mobile app excelled in user experience, the company found a way to innovate its website. The company aimed to bring a more immersive experience like the one on the mobile. At first, Aliexpress witnessed a high rise in mobile commerce and invested in establishing their mobile presence. However, there was a gap between the mobile and website experiences. Previously, their platform was only partially optimized for phones, while their website was their main source of discovery. Thus, they created a PWA (m.aliexpress.com), combining the elements from the app with the website. The results are astonishing: Aliexpress’s conversation rate increased by 104%, with an 84% increase in iOS conversions. Besides bringing a better user experience, the company can prompt users to engage more on the company’s website. Specifically, users visit twice as many pages per session. Also, the time spent per session increased by an average of 74% on all browsers, With the ability to adapt to different browsers and offline use, Aliexpress’s new PWA provides users with a quick loading speed of between 3 and 5 seconds. 2. Target

4. Target is one of the largest retail chains in the USA. To create a seamless customer touchpoint, Target introduced a PWA. Thus, the huge number of online transactions has increased. Users can now move from different devices to make their purchases. For instance, users can browse for products on a mobile device and make transactions on their computer. In 2023, about 42.2% of people will use the internet on desktop computers, while 55.9% will use mobile devices. Since 76% of customers want the same good experience on a computer or a phone, companies opt for progressive web apps. What makes Target one of the main examples of progressive web apps? Creating an app-like interface, Target enticed users for different reasons: ● Convenient add-to-cart option; ● Fast-loading images regardless of size; ● Responsive and interactive display. After the implementation of PWA, the number of app users increased considerably (more than 60%), and online transactions also increased significantly. Furthermore, Target’s fast loading speed facilitates a better user experience. Indeed, pages that load within a few seconds have almost 9% of bounce rates, and pages that take time for more than 5 seconds have more than 30 % of bounce rates.

5. 3. Alibaba Alibaba, a top e-commerce marketplace, has embraced Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) for a superior mobile experience. The mobile web is their primary source of discovery and retaining usage. They always look for ways to innovate the design and enhance the performance on mobile but still, find it challenging to create a satisfying experience. The mobile browsing journey was a part of their strategy to convert non-app users to using the app. However, it turned out that the app didn’t meet their expectations, and many decided to stay on the web. Users instead complete the transactions directly from the browser quickly and conveniently. Why Alibaba chose PWA: ● Superior Mobile Experience: Alibaba prioritizes mobile web for discovery. PWA ensures high-quality and reliable touchpoints, offering both web and app options. ● Competitive Advantage: Coexisting web and app presence gives Alibaba a competitive edge, enhancing visibility on Google and social media. ● Increased Conversions: Alibaba’s PWA integration led to a 76% increase in gross conversion rates across platforms. Alibaba experienced great results after the launch of its PWA: ● Loading Speed: Lag-free loading with error-free content display. ● Implementing an add-to-home-screen prompt resulted in users re-engaging 4x more often than other mobile users.

6. ● User Engagement: 4 times higher interaction rate from the “Add to Home screen” prompt. ● Conversion Rates: 76% higher in cross-browser conversions. ● User Growth: 14% increase in monthly active users on iOS and 30% on Android.