Why every online store should be accessible

Clean, user-friendly interfaces and legible text with strong color contrasts make e-commerce websites easier to navigate for people with visual impairments or motor disabilities. Accessibility ensures all users can understand, interact with, and use your website’s features effectively.

Yet, this often goes unnoticed: accessibility benefits more than just people with disabilities or older adults. An accessible website improves usability for everyone.

Consider these scenarios:

• Can you read emails on your phone under blinding sunlight?
• Have you struggled to order a cab via an app after a night out?
• Have you ever been grateful for video subtitles because you wanted to watch something on the train without bothering the people around you?

In such situations, digital accessibility provides support to a broader audience. Beyond those with disabilities, two additional groups directly benefit from accessibility measures:

• People with temporary disabilities, e.g.: I’ve broken the hand I usually use to work the mouse.
• People experiencing situational impairments, e.g.: I’m holding a crying baby and trying to order dinner through the app.

Legal basis: Accessibility for online stores becomes mandatory

What many misunderstand: Accessibility is not a courtesy – it’s a human right. Legally, businesses are obligated to enhance the accessibility of their websites, apps, online stores, and digital content. This responsibility is long overdue.

In Germany, the Barrier-free Information Technology Ordinance (Barrierefreie-Informationstechnik-Verordnung, BITV 2.0) defines standards for accessible design. This regulation, first introduced in 2002 as part of the Disability Equality Act (Behindertengleichstellungsgesetzes, BGG), applies to public-sector websites and digital offerings.

The 2021 Accessibility Strengthening Act (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, BFSG), aligned with the EU’s European Accessibility Act, expanded these requirements to private online stores and other companies in Germany. Since June 28, 2022, large e-commerce websites have been required to meet accessibility standards, with a final deadline for full compliance by summer 2025. That raises the important question: What does accessibility actually mean for online stores?

The globally recognized standards for accessible websites, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), define three levels of conformance:

• A: This level represents the minimum accessibility requirements.
• AA: This level addresses the most common accessibility issues.
• AAA: This level meets the highest standard of accessibility.

But do we have to meet the highest standard of the WCAG conformance levels AAA in all areas? The answer is: No, not necessarily. Examining legal requirements helps clarify the standards companies must meet and highlights where targeted improvements can be made.

For instance, e-commerce sites are required to meet WCAG Level AA conformance. You can learn more about this in our article, Accessible web design.

The WCAG guidelines are widely recognized and internationally established. For example, when testing website colors in design tools like Figma, plugins typically measure compliance with WCAG levels A to AAA.

In Germany, the BITV 2.0 guidelines are more extensive and specific, but they are not mandatory. Companies can opt to follow the international WCAG standards instead. While both share similar test criteria, BITV 2.0 includes additional requirements and does not classify them into levels like WCAG.

Customized Javascript overlays and web accessibility widgets as a solution?

Can’t we just use a tool to make our site accessible? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

When e-commerce lawsuits began to emerge in the U.S., many websites added accessibility widgets or plugins. These are often recognizable by a small icon that, when clicked, opens a settings panel for accessibility options.

While these tools seem helpful at first, offering various features for users and a sense of compliance for companies, they often fall short in practice.

Here’s why they don’t work:

• They create more problems than they solve, often being incompatible with certain screen readers.
• They don’t consistently output ARIA labels correctly.
• They fail to provide accurate ALT texts.
• Keyboard navigation is not always supported.
• Visual customizations can distort the site’s original branding.

Are you now wondering how you can make your online store accessible? Instead of relying on incomplete solutions like JavaScript overlays or web accessibility widgets – which often create more problems than they resolve – start with a well-designed foundation. A clean, accessible structure built collaboratively by all departments is essential. It might sound daunting, but it’s not. Accessibility often aligns naturally with standard optimizations in SEO, content management, usability, and design systems.

For example, a carefully structured UI pattern library already includes processes like testing color contrasts and establishing a clear visual hierarchy. The different visual states of components are also defined. Guidelines for accessible design are seamlessly integrated into the process, rather than added as an afterthought.

The same goes for navigation. Simplifying navigation meets accessibility needs and aligns with classic usability principles. Take UX writing for link texts as an example: for screen readers, links must clearly describe their destination so that blind users can navigate confidently. Popular phrases like “Learn more” are unhelpful – both for accessibility and intuitive usability.

This means incorporating accessibility early not only creates social value but also improves your site’s overall optimization.

Building accessibility into your site from the beginning saves effort and reduces costs. That’s why at Moccu, we create websites and apps with accessibility in mind from day one, following WCAG Level A to AAA standards.

For more guidance and best practices, check out our article on Accessible web design.

Practical examples: Successful implementation of accessibility in online stores

Here are some practical examples commonly used in online store designs, demonstrating how elements can be adapted to meet accessibility standards:

• Reduces legal risks for your company.
• Expands market reach.
• Enhances your brand's reputation and value.
• Most importantly, accessible e-commerce supports an inclusive corporate culture.

Our goal should be to create content and services accessible to all users, promoting acceptance, diversity, and equality.

The best part? Accessibility benefits everyone. Your customers enjoy an improved user experience, while you gain stronger customer loyalty, broader market potential, and a more positive brand image.