Progressive Web App Ecommerce Examples to Inspire Your Own

The dream of all e-retailers is to boost time to value while keeping the total cost of ownership low. And if you’ve landed on this page, you must already know that PWA ecommerce is a great catch.

For those not familiar with the concept: a Progressive Web App (PWA) is a type of application software that delivers top mobile app experience and operates in a browser. It is accessible on all devices, easily adapts to all screen sizes, and loads lightning fast. Besides, the PWA app development cost is 75% lower than that of a native app (and we’ll explain why in just a minute). 

At Elogic, we’ve been staying at the forefront of the latest PWA advancements for the past decade. And we’re ready to spill all the benefits of PWA and show you some best PWA ecommerce examples to follow for your own store. Let’s dive right in!

Benefits of PWA for Ecommerce

The beauty of PWA lies in its architecture. It provides the look and feel of a mobile app but is still connected to the back-end of your ecommerce website. The latter means that your PWA is discoverable by search engines, functions in all known browsers, and can even work offline thanks to website caching. 

Here’s why ecommerce websites embrace the PWA technology:

1. App-like user experience (UX). 

PWA preserves some amazing native app UX features on all kinds of devices, be it a mobile or a tablet. It can send push notifications, track geo-location, as well as interact with the users accessing cameras, sensors, Bluetooth, and other device features.

2. Fast loading speed. 

The loading speed of ecommerce PWAs is ludicrously fast thanks to web caching and little storage space. Because PWAs are single-page apps, everything loads on the first-page load, so any subsequent page viewing will be faster than the first one. Just to compare: on average, a retailer’s home page will take 2.6 seconds to load for the first time but will go down to only 0.6 seconds upon its next load.

3. No need for installation. 

A PWA can be installed directly from your ecommerce website. Forget about PlayMarket or App Store — your ecommerce PWA will be added to the user’s device home screen in a single click.

4. Offline support.

Progressive Web Apps ecommerce can operate beyond the network. The app leverages data cached during the users’ last interactions, so your clients can still browse your catalog and even interact with the app.

5. Cost-effective development. 

The average cost for PWA development and maintenance is about the same as for the native app. But the trick is that you’ll pay them once. So instead of investing in native app development, plus a mobile-responsive website, plus a desktop version, you’ll spend money on a single PWA storefront working on all devices equally.

10 PWA Ecommerce Examples to Get Inspiration From

No doubt, PWA and ecommerce are a match made in heaven. Coupled with the right ecommerce platform, a PWA will bring you more traffic than you might have dreamt of and boost your conversion rates. Just like it did to a number of world-famous ecommerce brands!

Here are ten ecommerce PWA examples that will convince you to invest in this game-changing technology now. Use them as references for the PWA business need and expected performance.

Alibaba

Business need for PWA: create engaging mobile experiences.

Alibaba.com is one of the biggest online B2B companies operating in 200+ different countries. The global retailer now uses a Progressive Web App ecommerce as their primary channel for brand discovery on mobile. Most importantly, Alibaba PWA bridged two audience segments — native app users and mobile app shoppers — eventually connecting suppliers with customers on a single marketplace platform. 

Results of PWA implementation on Alibaba:

• 155.6M of monthly traffic
• 76% higher conversions across browsers 
• 14% more monthly active users on iOS and 30% on Android
• 30% on Android 4X higher interaction rate from Add to Home Screen

AliExpress

Business need for PWA: build great mobile shopping experiences.

AliExpress is one of the leading worldwide marketplaces, selling anything from pet food to electronics and delivering the products directly from China. The brand operates under the motto “Smarter shopping, better living!”, so PWA ecommerce has been indispensable to the company’s growth strategy. Just like Alibaba, AliExpress brought the best of the native app and the webpage to cater to the whims and needs of their target customer segments.

Results of PWA ecommerce for AliExpress:

• 666.5M of monthly traffic
• 104% more new users and 2x more pages viewed per session across all browsers; 
• 82% increase in iOS conversion rate
•  74% increase in time spent per session across all browsers.

George.com

Business need for PWA: enhance the existing mobile solution with more advanced technologies. 

George.com is a UK-based clothing brand, currently a part of ASDA Walmart. The brand owns 580+ stores around Europe and serves over 2m customers per week. Their Progressive Web App ecommerce experience started with the need to revamp the existing mobile solution and improve the offer for their customers.

Results of PWA ecommerce for George.com:

• 3.8x faster average page load time
• 2x decrease in bounce rate
• 31% increase in mobile conversions
• 20% more page views per visit
• 28% longer average time on site for visits from Home screen

Flipkart

Business need for PWA: adopt an app-only strategy to improve user experience.

Flipkart is a number-one ecommerce website in India offering all sorts of products on its marketplace. Initially, the company focused only on selling books online. Eventually, Flipkart expanded its business and entered more ecommerce sectors, including beauty products, electronics, apparel, etc. In 2015, Flipkart struggled to provide an engaging web experience on its existing mobile app. A PWA replaced it allowing a store to function fast, work offline, and engage more customers. 

Results of PWA ecommerce for Flipkart:

• 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

Lancôme

Business need for PWA: drive traffic and re-engagement rates.

Lancôme is a French luxury perfume and cosmetics house owned by L’Oréal. Low mobile conversion rates have driven the brand to try Progressive Web App ecommerce. The new store launched in October 2016, making Lancôme one of the pioneers of retail PWA development. With the help of service workers, the company managed to provide reliable performance on unstable networks and set push notifications for re-engagement. 

Results of PWA ecommerce for Lancôme:

• 74.3K of monthly traffic
• 84% decrease in page load time
• 17% increase in conversions
• 53% increase in mobile sessions on iOS
• 8% increase in conversion rates on recovered carts via Push Notifications

Eleganza

Business need for PWA: transform the mobile shopping experience by decreasing server load during sales and getting a future-proof look & feel of the store.

Eleganza is a high-end fashion retailer based in the Netherlands, selling premium brands like Versace, Michael Kors, Valentino, etc. The retailer took advantage of its Magento 2 migration project and implemented a PWA as one of its storefronts. As Guus van der Staak, eCommerce manager at Eleganza, later commented, the brand has seen immediate benefits in their investment in PWA and hopes it will keep them at the forefront of the fashion market for years to come.

Results of PWA ecommerce for Eleganza:

• 76% increase in pages per session
• 23% faster average page load time
• 372% faster average server reaction time

The Whisky Barrel

Business need for PWA: boost mobile shopping experience and reduce the server load.

The Whisky Barrel is a Scottish-based whisky specialist renowned for their exclusive bottling and the quality of their blended whisky. The brand has taken their spirits worldwide with noteworthy success; yet, their previous native app wasn’t up to the mark with the quality of products. A progressive web app ecommerce was a drastic yet logical step in the success story of  The Whisky Barrel. A sleek app design with optimized user navigation and site structure brought more traffic to the site and made products easier to find.

Results of PWA ecommerce for The Whisky Barrel:

• 27% increase in organic impressions
• 44% increase in clicks
• 84% increase in lighthouse performance
• 88% decrease in server response time

OLX

Business need for PWA: speed up mobile app experience.

OLX is yet another global network of marketplaces currently present in 30+ countries. The customers usually buy second-hand items at a lower cost and can negotiate prices via chat. Apparently, OLX relies heavily on immersive mobile experience, which was quite disappointing at first. A PWA for ecommerce proved to be a real game-changer for OLX, improving some essential ecommerce metrics for the brand as well as the website speed.

Results of PWA ecommerce for OLX:

• 23% less time until page is interactive
• 80% lower bounce rates
• 146% higher CTR on Ads
• 250% more re-engagement

Jumia

Business need for PWA: engage users on mobile despite insufficient internet connectivity.

Jumia is a leading ecommerce marketplace in Africa. The brand faced the problem of poor internet connectivity in the region: most of the mobile connections were based on 2G, so it was almost impossible to encourage customers to shop. Thanks to its offline availability feature, PWA managed to bypass the limitations and boosted customer experience for the marketplace. 

Results of PWA ecommerce for Jumia:

• 33% higher conversion rate
• 50% lower bounce rate
• 12x more users versus native apps (on both Android & IOS)
• 5x less data used and 25x less device storage required

5miles

Business need for PWA: provide a cost-effective yet fast and engaging mobile shopping experience.

5miles is a Dallas-based startup with an R&D center in Beijing operating under the motto “Sell what you got and buy what you want!”. Indeed, the marketplace offers a wide selection of products from furniture to diamond rings, so it’s important for the brand to keep the customers engaged. A PWA was a solution to 5miles’ long-standing problem of high bounce, low retention rates, and costly native app maintenance. 

Results of PWA ecommerce for 5miles:

•  50% decrease in bounce rates
•  30% increase in time spent on site
•  30% better conversion for users who arrived via Add to Home screen

Why Top Retail Companies Choose Progressive Web Applications

Whatever your business need for PWA for ecommerce is, rest assured that it will exceed your expectations in terms of speed & performance. You’ll face the multiple benefits of:

• — Improved performance & increased conversion rates
• — Engaging user experience & higher conversion rates
• — Less data use and better SEO rankings
• — Seamless work offline and no update limitations
• — Easy development & reduced development costs

In a nutshell, a PWA has multiple advantages for retailers. Numbers don’t lie. We’ve mentioned many worldwide brands that achieved huge success by adopting a PWA. In today’s competitive world, the best PWA ecommerce examples prove that digital services can be provided to customers in an easier and more engaging way, driving both conversions and SEO success.

Source: https://elogic.co/blog/best-examples-of-progressive-web-apps-pwa-in-retail-and-ecommerce/