Accessibility compliance standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and regulations like the European Accessibility Act (EAA) can shield your store from legal issues and, more importantly, open your doors to a wider customer base. Accessibility isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s a competitive edge.
Accessibility compliance ensures your website’s platforms and content are easy for disabled users to navigate. This includes ensuring your website is usable with assistive technologies, like screen readers and keyboard navigation, and that elements such as forms, data tables, and interactive content meet the latest accessibility requirements. For more on EAA compliance and what that entails, check out our video:
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As guidelines evolve, businesses must stay proactive, adapting to new success criteria to maintain an accessible website and meet changing regulations. Future-proofing your store is not just about addressing today’s needs—it’s about staying ahead of the curve. Accessible websites are better for SEO and user satisfaction and are less likely to face compliance penalties, making them a smart investment for the long term.
Why Web Accessibility Compliance is a Priority in E-Commerce
Ensuring your online store is accessible isn’t just a matter of following regulations; it’s about creating an inclusive environment that opens your products to all users. Meeting website accessibility compliance standards benefit your business and customers by improving usability, increasing customer loyalty, and boosting sales.
Accessibility is more than just enabling functionality. It ensures that all aspects of your store—including site content like images, product descriptions, videos, and 3D models—meet the required accessibility standards.
This means going beyond basic website structure to consider web accessibility compliance, ensuring things like alt text for images, descriptive links, and captioned videos are present. Neglecting these elements could exclude potential customers and open your business to legal challenges under web accessibility legislation.
What Accessibility Compliance Means for Enterprise E-Tail
Accessibility compliance ensures that people with different needs, such as visual, motor, auditory, or cognitive impairments, can use your website effectively. This means aligning your store with web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) and making sure your store meets at least Level AA requirements.
Practical Measures for Accessibility
Providing keyboard navigation allows those with limited mobility to easily browse through products, and ensuring screen reader compatibility helps users with vision impairments navigate and understand content.
Simple, practical measures can help achieve this compliance. Ensuring that all content, such as images, text, and multimedia, is accessible can make a difference.
For example, including alt text for every product image ensures that a visually impaired person using a screen reader can understand what’s depicted. Similarly, enabling keyboard focus indicators for interactive elements like buttons and links helps users with limited mobility know where they are on the page.
Providing an Equal Experience
Accessibility compliance is also about giving users a complete and equal experience. This means avoiding barriers like disabling zoom functionality on mobile devices—a critical tool for users with low vision—or using vague link labels like “Click Here,” which can be unhelpful to people relying on assistive technologies. Instead, descriptive links like “Learn more about accessibility features” add clarity for all users.
Adhering to these principles not only ensures your store remains accessible but also demonstrates a commitment to digital inclusion and helps build trust and loyalty among customers who might otherwise face accessibility barriers.
Ultimately, addressing accessibility requirements proactively is about more than just staying on the right side of national law. It’s about ensuring everyone can enjoy what your brand offers—from people with temporary disabilities to those relying on assistive technology daily.
This commitment to inclusivity can transform the customer experience, create a positive brand perception, and even improve conversion rates, as accessible sites provide a smoother, more intuitive shopping journey for everyone.
The Cost of Falling Behind on Accessibility Compliance
Maintaining web accessibility compliance helps create a positive user experience for all visitors while protecting your business from potential risks. Failing to meet current web accessibility initiative regulations like WCAG 2.1, WCAG 2.2, and the European Accessibility Act (EAA) can significantly affect your finances, reputation, and bottom line.
What Happens if You Ignore Website Accessibility Compliance?
Non-compliance with accessibility standards is risky for any business, and several well-known brands have already faced the consequences. For example, Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI) awarded a £3,000 settlement to Stephen Campbell. Being a blind man and screen reader user, he could not activate the online process to apply for promotion.
The court ruled in favour of accessibility, marking a turning point that showed all online businesses, even those without physical stores, are legally required to meet accessibility requirements (source). This ruling and others have clarified that businesses can’t afford to overlook accessibility.
Financial and Reputational Costs of Non-Compliance
Even large e-commerce websites that thought they were exempt have faced significant fines and been forced to invest heavily in making their sites compliant—something that could have been less costly if done proactively.
The EAA is set to be in full force by June 2025, and compliance will be required from all e-commerce, travel, and banking websites across the EU. This means that failing to design an accessible website is a ticking time bomb that could lead to lawsuits, penalties, and enforcement actions.
Companies that don’t meet accessibility regulations like WCAG 2.2 Level AA risk being fined and may even face reputational damage. This is particularly critical for website owners and website managers, as the Equality Act in the UK and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the US permit lawsuits if businesses are found inaccessible to users with disabilities.
Missed Business Opportunities
Ignoring website accessibility compliance puts you at legal risk and limits your audience. An inaccessible website means that millions of potential customers may be unable to use your services, whether they have visual impairments, rely on screen readers, or need video captions.
This exclusion negatively impacts your business. According to studies, only about 3% of websites today are accessible to people with disabilities, yet over 1.3 billion people globally live with some form of disability. Businesses that improve accessibility fulfil a legal obligation while enhancing their reach and building brand loyalty among disabled people.
How to Future-Proof Your Store and Stay Ahead of Web Accessibility Regulations
The best approach to avoiding these problems is to future-proof your website for accessibility compliance. This means adhering to current standards and setting up your digital properties to easily meet future requirements.
The key to future-proofing your site is to focus on aligning your teams on digital accessibility throughout every stage of your customer experience—from browsing product pages to completing a purchase. This doesn’t have to be overwhelming; instead, view accessibility improvements as an opportunity to innovate and include everyone.
Begin by ensuring your content and structure align with the latest accessibility regulations. For instance, use descriptive text alternatives for images, make sure that keyboard focus indicators are visible, and provide clear labels for all form elements.
Ensure your video content has captions and that your written content is easily read with sufficient colour contrast to support visually impaired users. These simple actions help ensure that your site remains compliant while also providing a better experience for all users—and they reduce the risk of future legal issues.
Smart Strategies to Future-Proof Accessibility Compliance
Ensuring your online store remains accessible means creating a consistent, positive experience for everyone who visits your site, regardless of ability. Here, we’ll explore effective strategies to future-proof your website’s accessibility compliance and keep up with evolving standards.
Use Flexible Design Solutions to Stay Compliant
Accessibility compliance is an ongoing process, and staying ahead of shifting regulations like the EAA requires adaptability. Adopting flexible, modular design systems is one of the most practical ways to future-proof your online store.
A modular design approach ensures you can make incremental updates as standards evolve without overhauling your entire website. This way, design changes can be implemented on a component level, which reduces the workload while keeping the overall user experience consistent and compliant.
Another strategy is to leverage Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions that support accessibility. DAM solutions can manage images, videos, and text and include features that help you check for accessibility compliance across different forms of content. This is crucial as regulations increasingly require functional web pages and accessible multimedia content.
For example, accessible videos include captions and transcripts essential for providing content for people with hearing impairments.
Accessibility for product images ensures that your images have descriptive alt text, which helps screen readers convey the intended message to visually impaired users.
Incorporating tools to monitor and flag potential accessibility issues like missing alternative text, flashing content, or improper use of duplicate attributes will help you proactively address compliance.
Always verify compatibility with assistive technology like screen readers and keyboard focus indicators when adopting new technologies to provide services, mobile apps, and other solutions, ensuring that new content and functionalities remain accessible to disabled users.
Build a Compliance-First Culture Within Your Team
Accessibility compliance involves more than just web design; it also requires a cultural shift. Building an accessibility-first culture ensures that your team proactively addresses accessibility needs.
Start by embedding accessibility guidelines into your processes. For instance, when creating new content, ensure content creators are trained to use accessibility best practices, such as keeping paragraphs concise and using simple language, which benefits disabled people and those with cognitive disabilities.
Automated testing tools can be game-changers for web designers and developers. These tools can analyse code to ensure compliance with web accessibility standards like WCAG 2.1 and flag issues with your web content.
However, automated testing alone is not enough. Incorporate manual testing, using real users or specialists to review your content, ensuring that it remains accessible to individuals using various assistive technologies like screen readers or screen magnifiers.
Another crucial step is to have an accessibility statement on your website. This transparency informs users of your compliance efforts and demonstrates your commitment to equal access for all. When users see your website taking accessibility seriously, they are more likely to positively perceive your brand.
Investing in training sessions and workshops for your team is also a powerful way to make accessibility part of the workflow. Developers, designers, and content creators must understand that accessibility is about providing reasonable adjustments and that it’s not a one-off task but an ongoing commitment to website accessibility.
Steps to Ensure Web Accessibility Compliance
As we all strive to make the online shopping experience accessible to everyone, it’s essential to prioritise web accessibility compliance. Achieving and maintaining this can seem daunting, but the key lies in consistent monitoring, application of best practices, and regular collaboration.
Utilising our EAA compliance checklist for front-end teams and content creators alike can help streamline this process. Here are some practical steps to ensure your website and content remain accessible and compliant.
Audit Your Website and Content Regularly
Maintaining web accessibility is an ongoing process, not a one-time project. Regular audits are critical to ensuring your website continues to meet accessibility guidelines as both the site’s structure and content evolve. These audits should cover every aspect of your digital space—from the backend structure to the smallest content detail.
When conducting audits, you must ensure that all interactive elements, such as popups and form fields, can be navigated and operated using a keyboard. Auditing tools like WebAIM’s Wave or Accessibility Checker help identify gaps. These tools can identify missing alternative text, poor colour contrast, unlabelled forms, and inaccessible dynamic content, which can hinder the user experience for people with disabilities.
It’s also crucial to audit new content before it’s published. Tools like Axe Accessibility Checker can integrate into your development workflow to evaluate content as it’s being created. This ensures that accessibility issues are addressed before they become live problems on your website.
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Free download nowPrioritise WCAG 2.1/2.2 Standards for Web and Content
Staying current with WCAG 2.1 and the upcoming WCAG 2.2 standards is crucial for ensuring compliance of accessible websites with current and future regulations, such as the EAA. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines outline how to make web content more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological impairments.
Focus on applying these standards to all types of content, whether text, images, video, or interactive elements. For instance, adding alternative text to images makes them accessible to people using text-to-speech (TTS) software. At the same time, transcripts and captions make time-based media accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. A good keyboard focus indicator ensures users relying solely on keyboards can easily navigate your site.
Beyond simply complying with regulations, adhering to WCAG standards enhances the user experience. For example, ensuring proper colour contrast not only aids people with visual impairments but also benefits those accessing your website in challenging lighting conditions, like bright sunlight. These practices help achieve Level AA+ conformance level, the minimum level most accessibility regulations require.
Collaborate with Experts to Ensure Full Compliance
Web accessibility can be a complex topic, and while automated tools are beneficial, they cannot catch every compliance issue. Partnering with accessibility experts, like our EAA consultants, can help ensure a comprehensive approach to maintaining accessibility across all parts of your online store.
These experts can assess whether your public sector or private sector business meets relevant standards and can provide tailored, reasonable adjustments to help you stay compliant.
Working with specialists is especially helpful when dealing with intricate issues like dynamic content or mobile applications. Accessibility experts have in-depth knowledge of current web accessibility legislation, web accessibility regulations, and best practices that can save your business time and potential legal costs.
Such collaboration also means staying on top of evolving web technologies and ensuring that your accessibility statement reflects the current status of your compliance efforts.
For website owners, accessibility compliance not only helps avoid accessibility issues and potential lawsuits under the Equality Act but also opens your business to a broader audience, including individuals with temporary disabilities or those who face situational challenges, such as environmental disturbances while using a phone. This inclusiveness can significantly enhance your brand reputation and user loyalty.
Long-Term Strategies for E-Commerce Accessibility Compliance
Ensuring your online store complies with global accessibility guidelines requires ongoing commitment rather than a one-time effort.
By focusing on the long term, you can create a more inclusive experience, retain loyal customers, and avoid costly setbacks related to accessibility regulations. Here, we’ll explore practical strategies to future-proof your store’s web and content accessibility.
Navigating Global Web and Content Accessibility Standards for Your Store
With numerous global accessibility regulations, focusing on compliance with major frameworks like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), and EAA (European Accessibility Act) helps ensure your store meets requirements in different regions.
The EAA, effective in 2025, mandates accessibility for e-commerce, banking, and travel sites in the EU, requiring at least WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards. Failing to comply could lead to lawsuits or operational restrictions.
Prioritise your accessibility statement by addressing core aspects common to these standards, such as improving colour contrast, enabling keyboard navigation, and ensuring screen readers can access your site content. Adding an accessibility statement also communicates ongoing efforts, which is crucial for compliance with the UK Equality Act and the US ADA.
Supporting assistive technologies like text-to-speech (TTS) software, screen magnifiers, or voice navigation tools is essential for meeting success criteria. For example, individuals with disabilities such as Parkinson’s disease or vision impairments need effective screen reader support and keyboard controls, fostering loyalty among customers who depend on accessible interfaces.
Future-Proof Tactics for Web and Content Accessibility Compliance Success
Long-term compliance requires building web accessibility into development processes. Incorporate accessibility testing throughout the development lifecycle and conduct regular audits against the latest web accessibility regulations to stay current.
Make accessibility central to your design system and integrate it into content creation. Ensure that designers and developers understand accessibility principles.
For instance, always use descriptive link text instead of vague phrases like “click here,” which are unhelpful for text-to-speech (TTS) software. Maintain an accessibility statement on your website to outline your compliance status and future improvements.
Adopt an agile development approach with inclusivity checkpoints during sprints. Test new features for usability using automated tools and manual checks. Ensure your site maintains keyboard usability, supports mobile applications, and allows users to zoom without loss of clarity. A responsive website that adapts to different devices is crucial for long-term compliance.
Consider your content strategy as well. Keeping content simple helps users with cognitive disabilities. Providing alternative text for images, video captions, and audio transcripts ensures inclusivity for users, including those with hearing impairments. Content compliance is crucial in regions like the EU under the EAA.
Stay updated with regulatory changes and best practices. Assign a team member to monitor equal access developments or partner with an inclusivity consultant to keep your platform current.
The goal is not just to meet minimum conformance levels but to provide an inclusive experience for all users, including those with temporary disabilities or individuals in public sector bodies and private sector businesses.
Wrapping Up
Meeting evolving web accessibility regulations for your online store isn’t just a compliance measure—it’s about creating an inclusive space where all customers, including those with disabilities, can easily access and enjoy what you offer. Embracing best practices like optimising your site for screen magnifiers, voice recognition software, and other assistive technologies enhances everyone’s experience.
By prioritising a usability statement and considering the needs of disabled people at every design step, your store can provide an excellent experience for all and build lasting loyalty.
Ensure Accessibility Compliance for Your Online Shop
Proactive measures today mean fewer headaches tomorrow. Review your site for compliance with success criteria, make accessibility regulations a core focus, and keep pace with ongoing updates in web accessibility standards. A compliant store avoids legal risks and connects with a broader audience—an advantage for any public-sector or private-sector business looking to grow and thrive.
Book a free accessibility compliance consultation today and get actionable tips on what you need to do to comply with the EAA.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are you wondering how to make your online store accessible to everyone? We’ve compiled answers to some key questions about web accessibility and how to future-proof your e-commerce business for compliance.
Web accessibility means ensuring everyone, including those with disabilities, can use your website easily. It’s not just about following laws like the Equality Act or accessibility regulations but creating a seamless user experience. Accessible sites improve usability and boost customer loyalty, ultimately growing your business.
E-commerce stores must adhere to web accessibility standards like WCAG 2.1 Level AA, which cover areas such as navigation, readability, and visual elements. These regulations apply to both public sector websites and private sector businesses, and compliance ensures you meet the needs of disabled people, thus enhancing your audience reach.
To comply, consider elements like text alternatives for images and video captions and ensure all interactive content can be accessed with a keyboard. Regular reviews of your site, including testing with assistive tools like a screen magnifier, are also crucial to maintaining a high conformance level.
Non-compliance can lead to legal risks, such as lawsuits or fines under acts like the Equality Act. Beyond legal concerns, ignoring web accessibility risks alienating customers, resulting in lost sales, and damaging your brand’s reputation.
We recommend auditing your store at least once a year. Regular updates and new content can affect accessibility, so frequent reviews help ensure compliance, especially as regulations evolve and new best practices emerge.
Adding descriptive text for images, audio transcripts, and video captions is vital. For 3D models, ensure descriptions convey the visual location and details clearly. Our EAA content modules can help your store comply effectively.
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