Summary
AliExpress increases conversion rate for new users by 104% with new Progressive Web App
Results
- 104% for new users across all browsers; 82% increase in iOS conversion rate
- 2X more pages visited per session per user across all browsers
- 74% increase in time spent per session across all browsers
About AliExpress
"Smarter shopping, better living!" is the motto of AliExpress, a website where shoppers can buy everything from baby clothes to refrigerators directly from China. Part of the Alibaba Group, the global online retail marketplace is now a popular e-commerce site in America, Russia, and Brazil.
Challenge
Building great mobile experiences is an indispensable part of AliExpress’ success, as mobile commerce is growing three times faster than e-commerce. The mobile web is their primary platform for discovery so they have always focused its design and functionality. But AliExpress found it difficult to build an engaging experience on the web that was as fast as their mobile app. They looked at the mobile web as a platform to transition a non-app user to an app user. Not everyone downloaded their app, however, and getting users to install and re-engage with it was challenging and costly.
Solution
AliExpress looked for a way to provide all of their web users with the benefits of their app, such as performance and the ability to work offline and re-engage users. They built a cross-browser Progressive Web App (https://m.aliexpress.com) to combine the best of their app with the broad reach of the web.
After implementing their Progressive Web App, AliExpress saw conversion rates for new users increase by 104%. This investment in the mobile web also resulted in conversion rates on Safari increasing by 82%. The new strategy also delivered a much better experience. Users now visit twice as many pages per session, and time spent per session increased an average of 74% across all browsers.
One of the reasons we built a Progressive Web App was to be able to invest in the web experience across all browsers. Not only did we see huge benefits on browsers that support the latest features, but we also got to see a bump across the board. That is the sign of a great investment, and one that will keep paying for itself as browsers evolve.
Lijun Chen, director of AliExpress Mobile Team.