Robert Williams
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of an article from Retail Dive, an e-newsletter and website providing a 60-second bird’s eye view of the latest retail news and trends.
Mobile app or mobile web? While the debate has been discussed for years, an emerging solution brings many of the advantages of native mobile apps to the mobile browser.
Progressive web apps (PWAs) are an open-source initiative driven by Google that uses modern web capabilities to deliver app-like experiences to users, promising a better experience than either native apps or the mobile web.
"PWAs represent a seismic advancement in the web, similar in magnitude to the transition five years ago in responsive web design," Peter Sheldon, VP of strategy at Magento Commerce, a provider of an open-source e-commerce platform, told Mobile Marketer.
PWAs have several advantages for shoppers, starting with faster browsing. They are instantly discoverable within a browser without the need to download an app, and work in areas where there are poor network conditions. They can be "saved" to the home screen, at least on Android devices, for easier access and a personalized engagement channel. They also allow for rapid repeat access without the need to open the browser and type in a web address.
"Well-designed PWAs have speeds that are four times faster than other mobile sites and are friction-free, so customers stay engaged, and can speed through checkout to buy a product with just a few taps," said Igor Faletski, CEO of progressive web app provider Mobify.
For marketers, PWAs support push notifications in the browser to help drive mobile conversion rates while also alleviating the high investment costs associated with developing native apps.
On the downside, because the framework is still relatively new, PWAs are not supported by all browsers, nor does the framework support some of the features that make native apps so appealing to consumers, like the camera, GPS and fingerprint scanners.
Marketers may face challenges getting users to find their PWAS and trust them since they don’t require an app store. At this point, many third-party applications, such as Facebook and Google, will require an individual login to work each time for users.
But many of those issues may get resolved if PWAs gain wider acceptance and as the technology improves.