Web development is always about taking a leap into something better!
And, here Progressive Web Apps or rather PWA is one such leap for you.
But, what actually PWAs are?
Progressive web applications or PWAs are websites that perform as apps. With a blend of all the advantages of a native mobile app and a website, a PWA will look like a web application but give the experience of a native app. It means speedy performance, offline availability, cross-platform support, push notifications and so forth.
While businesses operating through websites are to gain a lot with this actually progressive technology, we at PHPProgrammers have summed up here everything about the PWAs just for you!
What is PWA?
PWAs are fast expanding ever since the idea was resurrected by Google in 2015. Why is so? While the answer lies in the enhanced user experience that a PWA offers, there are other solid reasons too.
Oh, well, that’s a huge change expected!
So, what makes PWA so unique?
Designed to perform and look just like a mobile app, a PWA let the users have the functionalities of a website with dynamic database access. So, like a website, it can be accessed with a URL and is indexable by the search engines, letting your site to be discovered in the web, unlike an app.
If you ask more about PWA, take a look at its benefits.
Assured Benefits of Progressive Web Apps
1. Enhanced performance
PWAs work much faster than any website or mobile app because of the way the technology caches and delivers every content, from the text, images to stylesheets on the site. The Service Workers, an underlying script that runs in the backend is responsible for that. It works uniquely from the site by only seeking the raw data and not the page design or layout elements. This deliberately results in increased speed causing more user interactions and hence conversions.
2. Faster device installations
Browsers automatically request the visitors to install the PWA by initiating a Call-to-action, and unlike mobile apps, they have shorter download times. Also, the downloads are not routed through any app stores like Google Play Store or the App Store.
Thus, a PWA can quickly get into a user’s device without even going through the lengthy and discretionary process of app store submissions.
3. Works offline
PWAs hold the brilliant capability to work offline with any network or WiFi connectivity. While the Service Workers is used up every time to cache new content, any changes are immediately directed to the local server. Thus, users can keep browsing it without fearing any loss of the data they have earlier fed.
4. Push Notifications
Push notifications are a key selling point for mobile apps as that keeps the users engaged and urge them to interact with the app from time to time. PWA comes with the feature of push notifications or engaging alerts too. The businesses operating a progressive web app can now get an entirely new way of marketing, pushing advertisements for new services, new products directly to the customers’ mobile devices.
5. Smaller storage consumption
Progressive Web Apps use up only a fraction of data compared to any native application. Thus, it is obvious that they would require very less space for storage in mobile devices. And, users can’t be any more happy with this fact that their app is not eating up considerable space in their device.

Image Source: searchenginewatch.com
Here are other sound benefits that you as a business can get by developing your website as a PWA.
- Development time and costs are much less
- Bypass the costly process of app store submissions
- Enhances the user experience with great loading speed
- Increases the organic search traffic
- Raises the users’ time on the site
- Increased engagement with push notifications
- Rise in the profits due to more conversions
Great examples of Progressive Web Apps that are driving branding and business parallelly
Starbucks
Uber
Washington Post
Alibaba
AliExpress
With all of these giant names witnessing a sharp rise in their conversions rate, it’s evident that PWAs are going to be a boon for business owners.
E-commerce and PWA
The fact that your website is universally accessible everywhere and to everyone will make your business more prominent globally. A progressive web app makes that possible.
The goal of every business that operates through a standalone website is to reach out to as many customers as possible. PWA is perfect for such businesses and for eCommerce it’s a sheer win-win situation. eCommerce brands can get all the trailblazing benefits of a progressive web app like enhanced speed, offline browsing experience, push notifications, multiple devices support, etc., all that will help them raise profits!
As per the success story of Alibaba whose PWA has caused 76% rise in conversions, “Creating a mobile-first and user-centric site that incorporates the best features of a native application will help businesses in maintaining a competitive edge by paving their path to conversions.”
Besides, Magento too announced the release of PWA Studio to help retailers solve their long-term dilemma of mobile conversions. According to the Magento experts, PWAs overcome multiple online retail challenges with facilities of fast browsing, Instant app gratification, push notifications and re-engagement.
So, wondering if your eCommerce website needs to be built into a PWA?
Offering some of the best possible benefits, PWA is a breakthrough advancement in the web development world now. With unmatched capabilities to dominate the web by target users of mobiles, desktops and laptops, PWA is the next big thing for your eCommerce.
So, do not wait anymore!
Get partnered with an evolving and expertise PHP web development firm like us who could enable your prevailing website or any conceived business idea into a stunning Progressive Web App.
Rounding off
With all things summing, we know the question that is running into your head. Is PWA ready for your business? The answer is not as straightforward as you have thought so.
On one hand, building a PWA takes less time, less effort and even less overhead compared to any native app. It is capable of devices integrations and has all the capabilities of a mobile app, including offline storage, geolocation, push notifications and camera controls.
On the other hand, building a PWA means getting these above core functionalities rendered in a website. That not only need complex to stringent programming with unique components like service workers, but also an assurance that these components will behave accordingly in different devices.
Thus, to say the least, to have a PWA developed for your business, you need a web development team that has sheer excellence of working on this avant-garde PWA technology.
While clearly, progressive web applications are the next-gen web solutions driving businesses and brands, it’s time for you to join the rage of PWA. Hire our PHP programmers and web experts having in-depth knowledge of the market to take your website to a new level with PWA!
