Magento to Reimagine Mobile Commerce With Progressive Web Apps

PWAs Offer Fast, Frictionless, "App-Like" Experiences Driving More Traffic, Higher Conversions and Faster Page Load Times for Magento Merchants

LONDON, June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Magento Live UK – Magento Commerce, the worldwide leader in digital commerce cloud innovation, is re-imagining mobile shopping experiences through the development of all-new progressive web apps (PWAs) for Magento merchants. PWAs offer fast, frictionless experiences that will drive more traffic, higher conversion rates and increased revenue volumes for Magento merchants worldwide. Magento will collaborate with Google, leveraging Google's technical expertise and best practice insights as Magento brings native PWA capabilities to the full Magento Commerce community in 2018.

"PWAs are the new standard for building a modern web experience," said Alex Komoroske, group product manager at Google. "We're excited to see Magento's continued investment in the technologies required to create modern shopping experiences."

According to a May 2017 report from Forrester, mobile web traffic will outpace desktop by 2019, but the mobile web has remained clunky with conversion rates stubbornly low despite optimized "responsive" experiences. Native apps have consistently shown higher mobile conversion rates due to slicker experiences, but few merchants have ample budgets to invest and few consumers other to download an app simply to make a one-time purchase.

PWAs blend the best features of websites and mobile applications to offer the responsiveness and glossy experience of a native app through the instant gratification of a mobile browser, while also alleviating the hassle of downloading and installing an app.

"PWAs use the latest browser technologies to meld the accessibility of the web with the presence of the mobile app," said Jason Wong, research director at Gartner. "It's only a matter of time before PWAs become the new standard for web interactions, just as responsive design has become the norm rather than the exception."

By replacing responsive websites with PWAs, merchants will offer faster, application-like experiences for customers, more seamless checkout processes and higher engagement through opt-in push notifications that empower online retailers to promote discounts and product releases. This results in higher conversion rates and top-line growth, but offers a significantly lower total cost of ownership than maintaining separate mobile web and native app experiences. Early adopters like WeGo, Forbes and AliExpress have already seen significant reductions in page load-times, increases in site visits and double-digit increases in conversion rates.

"Magento is committed to helping our merchants deliver commerce experiences that are on the forefront of digital innovation and has a history of delivering leading mobile commerce capabilities that drive top-line revenue growth," said Mark Lavelle, CEO of Magento. "We see PWAs as a natural evolution of the mobile web, and by working with industry leaders such as Google to develop PWAs, we plan to continue to keep merchants ahead of the curve."

About Magento Commerce

Trusted by more than 260,000 businesses worldwide, Magento Commerce is the leading provider of cloud commerce innovation to merchants and brands across B2C and B2B industries. In addition to its flagship open source digital commerce platform, Magento Commerce boasts a strong portfolio of cloud-based omni-channel solutions empowering merchants to successfully integrate digital and physical shopping experiences. With more than $101 billion in gross merchandise volume transacted on the platform annually, Magento Commerce is the #1 provider to the Internet Retailer Top 1000, counting more than double the clients to the next closest competitor, the B2B 300, and the Top 500 Guides for Europe and Latin America. Magento Commerce is supported by a vast global network of solution and technology partners, a highly active global developer community and the largest eCommerce marketplace for extensions available for download on the Magento Marketplace. More information can be found at www.magento.com.

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