Building Enterprise PWAs for South African SMMEs
A practical guide to building Progressive Web Apps that work offline, handle load shedding, and serve the SA market.
Why PWAs for South Africa
Progressive Web Apps are ideal for the South African market:
- Offline-first — Works during load shedding and connectivity drops
- Low data usage — Service worker caching reduces data costs
- No app store — Install directly from the browser, no Play Store fees
- Cross-platform — One codebase for desktop and mobile
Key Implementation Patterns
Service Worker Strategy
We use Cache-First for static assets and Network-First for API calls. This ensures the app shell loads instantly even offline.
Background Sync
Form submissions are queued in IndexedDB when offline and synced automatically when connectivity returns.
Install Prompt
Custom install banners with a 7-day dismiss cooldown provide a native-like installation experience without being intrusive.
Results
Our BTS company PWA achieves a 95+ Lighthouse score with full offline functionality. The same patterns power our client projects across e-commerce and field service applications.
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