Guide to eCommerce Accessibility and Why It's Good for Business

eCommerce has an accessibility problem.

In 2024, AudioEye analyzed more than 400,000 pages across 15,000 websites to better understand the state of digital accessibility.

The results were (unsurprisingly) poor. Almost every site had accessibility issues, but eCommerce sites performed worse than most:

• Retail sites had the highest number of issues per page — 350.1 — of any industry, including challenges like poor color contrast, missing image alt text, and descriptive links.

• The average retail page had 73 unique page elements that failed to meet basic accessibility requirements for color contrast.

• Checkout and account management forms averaged 11.5 inaccessible input elements per page.

Online shopping isn’t going anywhere. According to the Statista Digital Market Outlook, online shopping revenue in the U.S. will grow to more than 1.8 trillion by 2029 — up from about 1.1 trillion in 2024.

But for the 1.3 billion people globally who live with a disability, accessibility issues might just push them — and the $13 trillion in disposable income they control along with their friends and family — to other, more accessible sites.

What is eCommerce Accessibility?

What exactly do we mean when we say eCommerce accessibility?

eCommerce accessibility means ensuring everyone — particularly those with disabilities — can easily browse, shop, and checkout on your website. It’s about designing and coding your site to work well with screen readers, keyboard navigation, and other assistive technology.

Users with disabilities often encounter accessibility issues when navigating these sites, with common challenges including missing image descriptions, tricky dropdown menus, color choices with low contrast, and checkout forms that are hard to navigate. 

The best part? Solving these challenges doesn’t just make shopping easier for everyone — it can also boost your bottom line and set your brand apart.

The AudioEye icon next to a stat saying 54% of AT users feel like e-commerce companies don't care about earning their business

Accessibility Benefits eCommerce Websites

Albert Einstein once said that every problem is an opportunity in disguise. 

Well, digital accessibility is undoubtedly a problem for eCommerce sites today. But for an industry obsessed with pulling every possible lever to drive sales, a surprising lack of attention is being paid to the opportunity that accessibility represents. 

People with disabilities notice when eCommerce sites don’t prioritize accessibility. And that can be why they don’t convert to customers, either because they can’t navigate the site, they can’t make an informed decision on what to buy, or they simply don’t want to support the business.

In fact, when we surveyed assistive technology users about their experiences with online shopping, 54% said they didn’t feel like eCommerce companies cared about earning their business.

Put simply, there’s a very real opportunity for businesses to earn more customers — and a little bit of goodwill — just by making their site accessible. Some additional benefits that come from enhanced accessibility include:

• Lower legal risk: Accessibility isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a legal requirement under accessibility laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the European Accessibility Act (EAA), the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and others. Ensuring your site is accessible to individuals with disabilities lowers your legal risk, which can be costly and reputation-damaging.

• Enhanced SEO: SEO and accessibility go hand-in-hand with search algorithms giving better rankings to accessible pages. Making your content clear, well-ordered, and easy to understand (in other words, accessible) increases your SEO rankings and the chance to get your online store in front of more people.

• Broader audience reach: As mentioned above, billions of people worldwide live with a disability — and control trillions in disposable income. Committing to accessibility broadens your reach, opens new revenue streams, and can help streamline your growth.

So, what’s holding retailers back from unlocking these benefits? Often, it comes down to a few common misconceptions about digital accessibility.

Misconception #1: Our Website is Already Accessible 

One of the biggest issues today is that even businesses that think their website is accessible don’t always get it right. 

According to our most recent Digital Accessibility Index — which scanned nearly 86,000 web pages — the average retail page had more than 350 accessibility issues. From inaccessible product photos and poor color contrast to keyboard barriers and vague link text, most retailers are unaware of the sheer number of barriers on their digital storefronts. 

Misconception #2: It’d Be Too Hard to Make Our Website Accessible

When we surveyed 500 business leaders, website designers, and developers about accessibility, 52% said they thought they’d have to rebuild their entire website. It’s exactly this perceived effort and building for accessibility that often stops businesses before they even start. 

With the right tools and approach, however, building an accessible site is not as costly and time-consuming as you might think. For many retailers, improving accessibility can be tackled in phases, with updates woven into design and development cycles.

For example, a mid-sized online store with 500 products might spend a few months and a few thousand dollars making meaningful progress — but even smaller budgets can go far by focusing on key pages and processes first (e.g., checkout processes, product pages, etc.). The investment pays off quickly, helping you reach more customers, enhance your experience for everyone, and stay ahead of legal requirements. 

A stylized web browser with green checkmarks showing accessibility errors that have been fixed, next to an accessibility icon

Ways eCommerce Accessibility Problems Affect Customers (and Lose You Conversions)

We’ve explored many ways accessibility can help your business grow — but it’s just as important to understand what happens when things aren’t accessible. Let’s take a closer look at how common accessibility barriers frustrate customers, disrupt their eCommerce experience, and ultimately cost your store valuable sales.

When eCommerce websites aren’t accessible, it’s not just a minor inconvenience — it creates real obstacles that push customers away and impact your bottom line. At the heart of accessible design are four key principles known as POUR: content should be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. 

In practical terms, shoppers should be able to see and hear your content, navigate your site without confusion, understand how to complete tasks, and rely on your site to work with all devices, including assistive technologies. When these principles aren’t met, customers can quickly become frustrated, abandon their carts, or leave your site altogether. 

Here’s how these issues show up in real eCommerce settings and how they directly affect lost sales and conversions.

Reduced Time on Page

Accessibility barriers often stop customers from engaging with your eCommerce platform. If users can’t perceive or operate your site, they’ll bounce quickly, leaving you with high exit rates and low conversions.

Missing Alt Text

Product photos are the heart of eCommerce, with 75% of online shoppers relying on them to help make a purchase decision. But without descriptive alt text (or alternative text), visually impaired shoppers using screen readers miss out entirely. Imagine browsing for a red dress and hearing only “image” or a file name instead of “knee-length red dress with cap sleeves.” Without this detail, customers can’t engage or make informed purchase decisions.

Incompatibility with Screen Readers

Some websites use custom code or dynamic elements that screen readers can’t interpret. For example, sliders showcasing “new arrivals” may look sleek but remain silent to a blind customer’s assistive tech. If your digital content has poor compatibility with assistive tech, customer will leave before exploring further.

Auto-Playing Media

Videos or audio that auto-play can be overwhelming for many users, especially those with cognitive disabilities or those using screen readers. Sudden noise disrupts navigation, making people abandon the page out of frustration or confusion.

Cart Abandonment Mid-Navigation

Even if shoppers start browsing your site, poor accessibility can lead them to give up mid-navigation. These customers want to shop — but barriers pile up until they walk away.

Unclear Links

Links labeled “Click Here” or “Read More” without context leave screen reader users guessing where they’ll end up. For example, a list of product names linking to details should say “View details for Blue Sneakers,” not just “View Details.”

Text Size

Small or fixed text that can’t be resized is a huge barrier, especially on mobile. Shoppers with low vision or reading difficulties might give up rather than struggle to squint through your product descriptions.

Descriptions

Sparse or overly technical descriptions can frustrate customers with cognitive disabilities — or anyone who wants clarity. For instance, listing a shirt as “poly-blend with moisture wicking” without explaining what that means can deter potential buyers.

Color Contrast

Low-contrast color schemes — like gray text on a light background — make content difficult to read for many users, especially those with visual impairments or color blindness. Customers might abandon your store if they can’t confidently read product names, prices, or calls to action.

Heading Structure

Proper headings are critical for screen reader users to navigate pages efficiently. Without clear headings levels like (H1, H2, H3), shoppers can’t jump quickly to sections like “Product Details” or “Reviews,” leading to frustration and mid-shop exits.

Non-Responsive Design

A non-responsive site that’s hard to use on mobile devices is a dealbreaker. Many users rely on mobile devices, including those with disabilities who use zoom features, screen readers, or alternative input methods. An inaccessible mobile experience can tank your conversions fast.

Missing Captions

Videos showcasing products, tutorials, or customer testimonials are powerful sales tools — but without captions, they’re useless for deaf or hard-of-hearing shoppers. Missing captions can alienate customers and shorten their time on your site.

Cart Abandonment at Checkout

Accessibility barriers at checkout are especially costly because the customer has invested time and is ready to buy. Complicated forms, inaccessible fields, and confusing errors can derail the sale at the last minute and drive away potential customers.

Unlabeled Form Fields

Form fields without proper labels make checkout impossible for screen reader users. For example, a credit card field might simply say “Edit Text” instead of “Enter Credit Card Number,” leaving customers guessing — and likely abandoning the purchase.

Lack of Keyboard Navigation

Some shoppers cannot use a mouse and rely entirely on keyboard navigation. If they can’t tab through form fields in the correct order or if dropdown menus trap the focus, they may be forced to leave without completing checkout.

Missing Focus Indicators

Focus indicators show which field or button a keyboard user is currently interacting with. Without them, navigating a complex checkout page is like working blindfolded, leading users to give up rather than struggle.

Authentication Steps (e.g., Captcha)

CAPTCHAs and multi-step verifications can be huge barriers for people with visual, cognitive, or motor disabilities. A CAPTCHA that relies only on visual puzzles might block a blind customer from finishing their order altogether. Accessible alternatives, like audio CAPTCHAs or simpler verification methods, keep the path to purchase open.

Customer Service

Accessibility doesn’t end at the website — it extends to customer support. Relying solely on phone numbers excludes customers who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have anxiety disorders that make phone calls difficult.

Accessible eCommerce stores offer multiple support channels: accessible live chat, email, and even text options. And these channels themselves must be accessible — for example, a chatbot should work seamlessly with screen readers and keyboard navigation so every customer can get support when needed.

eCommerce Accessibility and Legal Consequences

Beyond customer experience and conversions, accessibility is also a legal issue and requirement for eCommerce businesses. Ignoring it can mean costly lawsuits and reputational damage — but understanding the rules makes it far easier to stay protected.

WCAG Conformance for eCommerce Websites

At the core of digital accessibility are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a global standard that ensures online accessibility for everyone, including those with disabilities. WCAG has three different conformance levels: Level A, AA, and AAA, with Level AA often being the legal and industry benchmark for most online content.

Accessibility Laws Applicable to eCommerce Websites

If you’re in the retail space, it’s important to know accessibility laws that could apply to your site. These include:

• ADA: In the U.S, courts increasingly interpret the ADA to cover websites and other online content, meaning online stores must be accessible to people with disabilities to be ADA compliant.

• AODA: In Canada, the AODA sets digital requirements for businesses serving customers in Ontario to ensure everyone, including those with disabilities, has equal access to online spaces.

• EAA: Across the EU, the EAA mandates that digital services, including eCommerce content, be accessible by 2025. An important note: the EAA does not enforce WCAG; instead, the EU measures compliance against the POUR principles.

While these laws vary in detail, they share a common goal: ensuring equal access for everyone. The good news is, with the right accessibility partner, you don’t have to tackle compliance alone. For example, AudioEye’s three-pronged approach to accessibility, which combines powerful automation with human-assisted AI technology, helps you achieve industry-leading compliance with accessibility standards. Plus, with AudioEye Assurance, you’ll enjoy 400% more protection than automation or consulting-only approaches.

Stylized web browser showing a shield icon with a balanced scale; a credit card is on the left side of the browser and the accessibility symbol is on the right.

Fixing eCommerce Accessibility Issues

Digital accessibility isn’t something you can “fix” by waving a magic wand. But the reality is that it’s not going anywhere. In fact, the rising number of accessibility lawsuits is a clear sign that every retailer must address accessibility or risk legal and reputational risks.

Here’s the good news: Enhancing your shop’s accessibility starts with the right platform and the right approach. While there is a wide range of accessibility solutions on the market, from simple, automation-only overlays to vendors offering manual audits and remediation services, both have their own drawbacks.

What’s Wrong with Automation-Only Solutions?

Automated accessibility tools are a great starting point for accessibility. Most tools can quickly scan hundreds of pages in a few minutes and identify common issues that impact the user experience. Some can even automatically fix those issues. 

Automation-only solutions sound great in theory, but they cannot fix certain types of content — such as video, audio, and online documents like PDFs — and some issues also require human intervention. For example, technology today is not mature enough to know if an image’s alt text is actually providing value to users; all it can do is register that some alt text is there.

Our data shows that automation can potentially detect 70% of common digital accessibility issues and resolve about two-thirds of them. Automation fills in those gaps, delivering a fully accessible online shopping experience for all users. 

What About Manual Audits?

Manual audits are a good supplement to automated testing, finding more complex accessibility issues that put your site at risk and bringing you closer to compliance. Most audits are performed by accessibility experts or members of the disability community who test for accessibility and usability issues and provide recommendations on how to fix them.

However, they can be slow, static, and expensive — not an ideal solution. Think about how often your website changes. Every new product page or banner announcing a special offer is a chance for you to (unintentionally) introduce an accessibility error.

Put simply: Manual audits provide a nice snapshot of your website’s accessibility, but they aren’t an ongoing accessibility solution. 

Hybrid Approach to Accessibility: The Solution for eCommerce 

At AudioEye, we believe the answer to accessibility testing lies in a hybrid approach combining the best automated solutions and expert human audits. Through our powerful automation and human-assisted AI technology, our Automated Accessibility Platform helps retailers detect and fix issues at scale. We also provide Mobile App Audits to ensure your mobile shopping experience is accessible and compliant.

Plus, to help retailers bake accessibility into every workflow, there’s our Developer Tools. Developers can test code in a pre-production environment and fix accessibility issues before they impact shoppers.

Your Secret Retail Advantage? Accessibility, Powered by AudioEye

Making your eCommerce website accessible isn’t just about compliance — it’s about creating a shopping experience that welcomes everyone and drives real business results. From reducing cart abandonment to reaching new customers and building stronger brand loyalty, accessibility is a huge retail advantage. And with evolving laws around the world, staying ahead of accessibility is one of the smartest ways to protect your business from legal risk.

At AudioEye, we’re here to help you make accessibility an advantage rather than an obstacle. With how complex the internet is, we know there is no silver bullet to solving digital accessibility. But there is a gold standard that incorporates a three-pronged approach to help you achieve industry-leading compliance with accessibility standards. With AudioEye, retailers can save up to 90% in costs compared to traditional at-source fixes, stay compliant with ongoing monitoring, and enjoy the confidence that their digital content is both accessible and legally protected?

Ready to see how accessible your digital storefront is? Get started with a free accessibility scan and start building an online store that’s open to everyone. 

Want to see AudioEye in action? Schedule a demo today.