Jquery 为什么我应该创建异步 WebAPI 操作而不是同步操作

I have the following operation in a Web API I created:

// GET api/<controller>
[HttpGet]
[Route("pharmacies/{pharmacyId}/page/{page}/{filter?}")]
public CartTotalsDTO GetProductsWithHistory(Guid pharmacyId, int page, string filter = null ,[FromUri] bool refresh = false)
{
    return delegateHelper.GetProductsWithHistory(CustomerContext.Current.GetContactById(pharmacyId), refresh);
}

The call to this webservice is done through a Jquery Ajax call this way:

$.ajax({
      url: "/api/products/pharmacies/<%# Farmacia.PrimaryKeyId.Value.ToString() %>/page/" + vm.currentPage() + "/" + filter,
      type: "GET",
      dataType: "json",
      success: function (result) {
          vm.items([]);
          var data = result.Products;
          vm.totalUnits(result.TotalUnits);
      }          
  });

I've seen some developers that implement the previous operation this way:

// GET api/<controller>
[HttpGet]
[Route("pharmacies/{pharmacyId}/page/{page}/{filter?}")]
public async Task<CartTotalsDTO> GetProductsWithHistory(Guid pharmacyId, int page, string filter = null ,[FromUri] bool refresh = false)
{
    return await Task.Factory.StartNew(() => delegateHelper.GetProductsWithHistory(CustomerContext.Current.GetContactById(pharmacyId), refresh));
}

Gotta say, though, that GetProductsWithHistory() is a quite long operation. Given my problem and context, how will making the webAPI operation asynchronous benefit me?