Why should retailers embrace a PWA app instantly?

According to Emarketer, more than one-third of the e-commerce sales in the US in 2019 were made through smartphones. Besides, mCommerce is expected to rise to 72.9% in 2021. With that in mind, retailers should improve customer experience on their mobile. You might come up with the idea of developing a mobile application, however, it will take time and effort. In today’s article, we will present with you a new technological advancement coming on stream, the PWA app instantly. It is accessible from a browser but behaves like a native app.

What is a PWA app?

Let’s start with the acronym of PWA. PWA stands for Progress Web Application. Simply, PWA is a bridge between the website and a mobile app since it is delivered through the web and functions like an app. 

Let’s imagine you visit a site and a pop-up jumps on the screen to ask you whether to add the website to your home screen. If you say “Yes”, the site will appear like a normal app on your phone screen.  

A native app will require end-users to visit the app store, make a purchase (or not) and download locally. PWA is not on any above requests. 

A little note PWA can work on 6 different browsers so far which are Google, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Samsung Internet.

Why do retailers love the PWA app? 

Save time on developing a native app

 On average, a mobile app takes over three to nine months to build. It continues to pass the approval test to be placed on the app store. Sometimes the effort isn’t worth it. Because the app can not stand out in the marketplace and reach the expected number of installations. 

Here is the good news, you won’t have to spend a lot of time developing a compatible app on different mobile operating systems anymore. The PWA app is here for you.

Speed up loading time

It is revealed that more than half of the visitors will leave the website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, according to Marketingdive. With PWA, your site is already on the customer screen and ready in less than a second. Customers no longer feel impatient waiting for your site to be ready for work. 

Let’s try to increase customer retention on your site instead of the traffic drive only. 

Take significantly less space than a native app

Once a native app is set up on your phone, it will take a massive space. Conversely, PWA is still a web that can be opened using a URL and does not need to download an APK file with a capacity of 40 MB or more. Besides, PWA is not battery consumption like a native app.  

ConnectPOS: a POS system with a fully integrated PWA Consumer App

PWA Consumer App, which was integrated into ConnectPOS, is a Magento rewarded innovation. In the following, we now list out the great advantages of ConnectPOS with PWA for your customers.

Surf for products in the blink of an eye

Whenever customers come into your store and scan a QR code, an interface that looks exactly like an app (which we are calling PWA) shows up. From now on, customers will freely browse the full range of products and head for what they want. 

Get details on the product information

Your sales associate won’t be on the go when a lot of customers are around to ask for product information. 

All customers need to do is scan the barcode for each item. Product descriptions with details on the goods attribute, price, origin, and so forth, will appear instantly. 

Order out-of-stock items

With ConnectPOS, you won’t miss out on sales opportunities and leave your customer disappointed with the sold-out product. PWA fully integrated on the platform allows clients to order out-of-stock items and choose between in-store pickup and front-door delivery. 

If customers return to your brick-and-mortar store to pick up, they just need your cashier to scan the barcode and collect the items. 

Receive personalized recommendations

You might have heard of a marketing strategy “cross-selling” which sells additional products or services to an existing customer. 

PWA encourages customers to buy more with customized recommendations based on the shoppers’ cart and purchase history. 

Check out by yourself

During the festive season and holiday sales, have your business been out of capacity and your customers waiting in a big queue?

The best answer to resolve this problem is to let customers serve themselves.

PWA enables customers to make payments on their mobiles and check out whenever they finish their shopping. After the payment is completed, customers receive a barcode and let cashiers scan it. Everything has been done at your buyers’ convenience. 

PWA also supports various payment methods, from cash, credit cards to vouchers, store credits, promo codes, and you name it!

All in all, 

PWA should be explored by retailers looking for success in the mobile world. Do not be left behind in the era of technology, let’s check out our video on PWA to get deeper on the customer-centric features. More information on PWA and ConnectPOS – a not-to-miss technological solution for retailers, will be weekly released on our website.