10 best progressive web apps (PWAs) for ecommerce 2018

With consumer expectation at all time high, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are becoming the key initiative of ecommerce businesses for this coming year. Big winners in online retailing will continue to focus on making the mobile experience great for their customers. As the evolution in front-end web technology, PWAs promise to bring the high speed and slick experience of a native app to the mobile browsers. The technology has resulted in an incredibly improved performance, better user interaction and increased mobile conversion for the retailers embracing it properly. From user-friendliness to unmatched load speed, PWA is setting the new standards for web interaction best practices.

By revolutionizing online shopping for customers, PWAs are expected to change and dominate the ecommerce landscape in 2018. This year we've seen a massive adoption of this modern web technology among online retailers of all sizes. A number of early adopters have already benefited from their successful transformation. Here's a list of the best Progressive Web Apps for ecommerce that have driven impactful results (data by Google Developers):

10 best progressive web apps for ecommerce

George.com 

The leading UK clothing brand from ASDA Walmart upgraded their site to a Progressive Web App (PWA) and saw a 31 percent increase in mobile conversion.

• 3.8x - Faster average page load time


• 2x - Lower bounce rate


• 31% - Increase in Conversion Rate


• 20% - More page views per visit


• 28% - Longer average time on site for visits from Home screen

 

Jumia

The leading e-commerce website in Africa found that mobile provides their largest source of traffic and user growth. That's why maximizing user engagement on mobile is critical to Jumia's profitability. Jumia looked to progressive web app technologies like Push Notifications to re-engage mobile users who had abandoned carts:

• 38% Open rate


• 9X more conversion on previously abandoned carts from web push users


• 7.85% conversion rate on previously abandoned carts from web push users, vs. 4.5% for native app.

 

AliExpress

The global online retail marketplace looked for a way to provide all of their web users with the benefits of their app, such as performance and the ability to re-engage users. After implementing progressive web app for m.aliexpress.com, they saw incredible results:

•  104% for new users across all browsers; 82% increase in iOS conversion rate


•  2X more pages visited per session per user across all browsers


•  74% increase in time spent per session across all browsers

 

Lancome

The company needed a fast-loading, compelling mobile experience, similar to what they could achieve with a native app—but one that was also discoverable and accessible to everyone via the mobile web. That's when Lancome looked to PWA technologies to provide an immersive, app-like experience:

• 17% increase in conversions


• 53% increase in mobile sessions on iOS


• 8% increase in conversion rates on recovered carts via Push Notifications

 

Alibaba

The world’s largest online business-to-business (B2B) trading platform saw a 76 percent increase in total conversions across browsers after upgrading their site to a Progressive Web App (PWA):

• 76% higher conversions across browsers


• 14% more monthly active users on iOS; 30% on Android


• 4X higher interaction rate from Add to Homescreen

 

eXtra

Saudi Arabia’s leading and fastest-growing consumer electronics and home appliance retailer upgraded their mobile site into a PWA that provides another touch point to interact with customers. Its web push notifications now eXtra.com’s best-performing retention-marketing channel as they saw an incredible, instant customer reaction:

• 12% click-through rate


• 100% more sales from users arriving via web push


• 4x increase in re-engagement

 

Flipkart

India’s largest e-commerce site decided to launch Flipkart Lite, a Progressive Web App that combines the best of the web and the best of the Flipkart native app. The PWA offers a mobile web experience that loads fast, uses less data than before, and re-engages users in multiple ways:

• Users time on site with Flipkart lite vs. previous mobile experience: 3.5 minutes vs 70 seconds.


• 3x more time spent on site


• 40% higher re-engagement rate


• 70% greater conversion rate among those arriving via Add to Homescreen


• 3x lower data usage

 

5miles

The mobile marketplace found it hard to provide a mobile web user experience that was as fast and engaging as their mobile app, until they build a Progressive Web App (lite.5milesapp.com). The new strategy delivered a dramatic improvement in overall user experience that drives immediate impacts:

• 50% decrease in bounce rates


• 30% increase in time spent on site


• 30% better conversion for users who arrived via Add to Home screen

 

Konga

The leading e-commerce website in Nigeria generates the their major source of traffic from mobile devices. Konga wanted to provide all of their web users with the benefits of their app, including performance, the ability to work offline, and re-engage without the data cost. To improve mobile web experience, they cut down on data usage with a PWA:

• 92% less data for initial load, vs. native app


• 82% less data to complete first transaction, vs. native app


• 63% less data for initial load, vs. previous mobile web experience


• 84% less data to complete first transaction, vs. previous mobile web experience

 

Dokan

Dokan was looking to provide their web users a mobile-first experience that is compelling enough to increase engagement and conversion rates. As a result, they built a Progressive Web App to leverage a mobile web experience with all the benefits of Dokan native app: fast, reliable and engaging

• 140% increase in page load speed


• 20% higher conversion rate


• 45% increase in online revenue

 

See also:
Progressive Web Apps for Magento