Embracing eCommerce Website Accessibility

Accessibility has always been an integral consideration for website design and builds, but with The European Accessibility Act (EAA) coming into play by mid-2025, it’s now more crucial than ever to ensure all sites are meeting accessibility standards.

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) means that most digital products will have to comply with WCAG 2.1 level AA standards. Failure to do so could result in a lawsuit for website owners. The US already has similar laws in place, making sites liable for discrimination lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

What is eCommerce website accessibility?

Web accessibility is the practice of designing and developing websites and web applications to ensure that everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can use them effectively and interact with online content. It's about creating an inclusive online environment where no one is left behind, and every user, irrespective of their physical or cognitive limitations, can access and engage with digital content.

Why is eCommerce website accessibility important?

Not only is it important to be compliant with the law, but from a moral and ethical standpoint, large numbers of people are alienated when digital products don’t meet standards. Whether this is down to vision impairments and being unable to read text without enough contrast or motor issues and finding it difficult to interact with UI that is too close together or too small for tap target requirements. SEO is also impacted if sites don’t meet these standards.

What are the key considerations when designing a website for great eCommerce accessibility?

1. Colour contrast.

In designs produced by blubolt, we use Figma plugins to ensure that text passes contrast rules across all elements like buttons, input fields, and text on backgrounds. We also ensure that colours are passing at a 4.5:1 ratio in order to be readable by the majority of people. In addition, we avoid light colours used together, for example, white on red, or dark colours used together, like blue on a black background.

2. Typography choices.

Sans serif fonts are much easier to read than serif due to their character simplicity, especially at smaller sizes. As such, at blubolt, we use sans serif for body/paragraph content and keep more decorative fonts to a minimum.

While decorative fonts can still be used for brand personality, we’re conscious that they’re not being used for important signposting elements (like buttons, navigation, etc) or key information on a page. We also use 16px font size to ensure it’s readable.

3. Tap targets and spacing.

We ensure that our tap targets for mobile are around 44px so people with motor issues or even people with larger thumbs can press UI elements easily. With spacing, we ensure there’s enough space to avoid users accidentally pressing something because it’s too close.

4. More descriptive code.

Our accessibility checklist includes providing useful alt text and captions for images, descriptive links, and clear headings so search engines can better understand the website content. Also, we add captions to videos and provide transcripts for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, we use clear and descriptive text for links and buttons, making it easy for users to understand what will happen when they click them. And lastly, we implement hover states and interactions where needed to reinforce the functionality and encourage click-through.

Bonus tip: use an eCommerce website accessibility app!

Feeling a smidge overwhelmed? Check out an accessibility app, like accessiBe, that can simplify the process and help you become compliant with WCAG 2.1, ADA, Section 508, AODA, ACA, and more.

How will great accessibility benefit eCommerce websites?

• SEO. Who doesn’t want to rank better?! Passing accessibility tests will ensure your site is more easily read and, therefore, will rank much better in search engines.

• Inclusivity. Making sure your eCommerce website is accessible means that ALL of your content will be available to everyone, which is how it should be!

• Increased reach. The more users that can interact with your content easily means more potential customers, which could lead to more sales.

• Edge over competitors. Only 3% of the internet as a whole is accessible to those with disabilities, so this could give you an advantage over similar brands and positively impact your brand reputation for caring about a wider range of users.

Conclusion.

By following our tips and advice, you can make your eCommerce website more accessible and provide an equal opportunity for all users to engage with your products and services.

Need further advice about accessibility for your eCommerce store? Whether you’re looking to migrate, redesign or optimise your existing website, our Shopify Plus agency can deliver eCommerce solutions to help your brand grow faster while also nailing accessibility! Explore our expert Shopify services and browse our client work for Shopify inspiration. Get in touch to discuss your requirements. We would love to help!