Progressive Web Apps vs Responsive Websites

Most e-commerce sites are not optimized for mobile. Also, it seems unlikely that prospective buyers would download a native app just to buy something off an online store. As the number of mobile consumers rises, it is expected that almost 54% of e-commerce sales by 2021 will happen on mobile instead of traditional websites.

So how do eCommerce business ensure that they get their leads to convert, and their prospects to buy? Well, they have two options to ensure that their digital store gets attention online.

The difference of PWAs and Responsive website

It also quickly became an essential requirement for new websites. In comparison, a responsive site is developed once, and the onus falls on different mobile devices to display the website according to the screen size.

But responsive websites couldnt offer advanced functionalities like offline support, push messages, and other native app-like features that customers have to expect on their smartphones.

PWAs vs Responsive websites

Responsive websites couldnt offer advanced functionalities like offline support, push messages, and other native app-like features that customers have to expect on their smartphones. While a progressive app mimics the behavior of an app. It is developed using CSS, HTML5, or JavaScript for specific screen sizes only.

Both are designed to provide a smooth web experience for users on different devices so which one works better? Here are a few ways to differentiate between the two:

1. PWAs are faster than Responsive design

A progressive app is the next step after a responsive website. In all probability, your business already has a website or web app, and you can make it load faster on different mobile devices.

The good news about PWAs is that older browsers support them and that they incorporate modern features like offline support, push notification, native video, and audio capturing capabilities.

2. PWAs offer the ability to work offline

Theres no need for an internet connection to use a progressive web app because of this feature. The application cache feature allows websites to store a large amount of data offline, giving PWAs much of the functionality of native apps.

3. PWAs are expensive to make and maintain

This undoubtedly makes PWAs the more expensive of the two options. It can be costly to maintain the web app in the long run as compared to a responsive website.

The screen size of the users device is a vital consideration for developing progressive web apps, which means that the website needs to be developed several times over for different devices.

4. Stellar app experience without the development costs with PWAs

Progressive web apps allow different features like file access, task scheduling, SMS/MMS capability, offline storage, location, and device position

Progressive web apps make your website feel like a high-quality, well-developed, and expensive app. Thats excellent value for your money because PWAs dont cost as much as apps.

5. Both work well with SEO, SEM to ensure discoverability

Businesses can promote both progressive web apps and responsive websites through paid search engine marketing. Responsive websites and progressive apps are great for SEO and SEM because they are essentially websites.

All the content present on websites and web apps is still crawled and indexed by search engines. They can play a crucial role in the websites overall rank in the search results.

Conclusion

Hopefully, the information in this blog post will help you decide between progressive web apps vs responsive websites.

Many factors go into planning and developing a custom website that suits your business needs and appeals to the target audience. As users and customers express their needs and preferences, businesses must learn to pick up on these cues and quickly adapt to the developments, so their products and services stay relevant.