E-commerce is an exponentially growing industry. Almost everything can be delivered online, from your favorite food to tickets that can take you around the world. Therefore, your E-commerce website needs to be inclusive of everyone so that they can order anything. This article will explore basic concepts related to the accessibility of an E-commerce store. And we have also included successful examples to help you understand more about it.

Understanding Accessibility and its Benefits

Accessibility is the practice of removing barriers that users face while visiting or accessing your websites and services. Inclusivity helps everyone, regardless of their disabilities, easily access all digital product functionalities. It is a legal requirement in many countries, such as the U.S. For example, the U.S. has the ADA and the Web Accessibility Directive in the EU to ensure that users with disabilities don’t face discrimination.

Benefits of eCommerce Accessibility

• Increase market reach: As your E-commerce website becomes more accessible, more people can access it, therefore, increasing your market reach.

• Improved customer satisfaction and royalty: Accessibility can enhance your website's usability, performance, and aesthetics, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty towards your brand.

• By complying with accessibility standards and regulations, you can protect your reputation and avoid expensive legal fees.

Key Accessibility Considerations for E-Commerce Stores

Accessibility in e-commerce requires considering customers' diverse needs and preferences, including their abilities and disabilities. Common types of disabilities impact customers' shopping experiences, including:

• Visual impairments: These include users who may use screen readers, magnifiers, or high-contrast modes to access online content.

• Hearing impairments: It involves users who may rely on captions, transcripts, or sign language interpreters to access audio or video content.

• Motor impairments: This includes users who may have difficulty using a mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen to interact with online content.

• Cognitive impairments: They involve users who may have difficulty reading, understanding, remembering, or focusing on online content.

Tools and Resources for Assessing and Improving Accessibility

To enhance your eCommerce store's accessibility, use automated tools and manual testing to identify and fix common errors like missing alt text, low contrast, and broken links. However, these tools cannot detect all accessibility issues, so it's essential to perform manual testing with real users or experts for feedback and suggestions. Tools and resources to assess and improve accessibility include:

• WAVE: It is a web accessibility evaluation tool that can analyze web pages through a browser extension or an online tool. The best feature of WAVE is that it provides visual feedback on accessibility issues with recommendations for improvement.

• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): It is an initiative by the W3C. They have developed guidelines and resources for web accessibility. It includes tutorials, examples, checklists, and training materials.

Practical Steps to Make Your E-Commerce Store Accessible

Here are some practical steps to help you make your E-commerce store more accessible:

Start with the basics:

Accessibility focuses on ease of use and usability, requiring straightforward navigation on inclusive websites. Consistency in layout, branding, and descriptive titles conveys the website's purpose to all users.

Use clear and straightforward language

It helps customers understand your content better, especially those with cognitive impairments or limited language skills. To achieve this, follow some best practices like using short sentences and paragraphs, using active voice, and avoiding technical terms. Organize your content with headings and subheadings, and present multiple items with lists and bullet points. Ensure correct punctuation, capitalization, and consistent terminology and spelling. Lastly, provide definitions or explanations for unfamiliar words or concepts.

Provide alternative texts, captions, and transcripts for Media

Alt text conveys the meaning and function of non-text content, helping customers who cannot see or perceive images understand its relationship with the surrounding content. Captions and transcripts provide audio or video media content and information. Tools like YouTube's Automatic Captioning or Rev's Transcription Service can be used for automatic or manual captions, transcripts, or HTML5 elements.

Maintain sufficient color contrast

Color contrast is the brightness and hue difference between foreground and background colors in web content, impacting readability and visibility. Low vision or color blindness may cause difficulty distinguishing colors. Use WebAIM's Color Contrast Checker to check contrast ratios, with WCAG 2.1 recommending a minimum of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large elements.

Keyboard Accessibility

Keyboard accessibility refers to navigating and interacting with web content using a keyboard, especially for customers with motor impairments or those without touch screens. To ensure accessibility, all interactive elements must be reachable and operable using the Tab, Enter, Spacebar, or arrow keys. Visual feedback, such as focus indicators or highlights, should be provided to indicate which element is currently focused by the keyboard.

Successful Examples of Accessible eCommerce Stores

Check out these companies that have done a commendable job of making their websites inclusive:

Target: One of the largest retailers in the United States and offers a wide range of online products. It has accessible features like:

• Skip link that allows users to skip to the main content

• The mega menu can also be accessed through a keyboard, allowing users to navigate through different categories.

• Multiple modes: A high-contrast mode that changes the color scheme of the website, whereas the screen reader mode optimizes the website for screen reader users.

• Zoom feature that allows users to enlarge the product images

• Product comparison and rating/review features enable users to compare their desired products and provide feedback.

ASOS: It is one of the leading online fashion retailers in the world and offers over 85,000 products online. ASOS has made its website accessible by providing features such as:

• A search function that allows users to find products by keywords, categories, filters, or suggestions

• Product description with detailed size, fit, color, material, and care information. It also has a product video showcasing motion and angles, offering complementary recommendations.

• A size guide feature that helps users find the right size for their measurements

• The delivery and returns feature offers options, costs, and policies. There is also a customer service feature that enables phone, email, or chat support.

Conclusion

Most people like toasts, but not everyone likes them in the same way. Some people prefer their toast light, medium, or dark. It depends on their taste buds and dietary requirements. Similarly, accessibility is not a single solution that works for everyone. Different people may require different accessibility features like high-contrast mode, zoom features, etc. Hence, while making your E-commerce website inclusive, it is essential to respect all users’ requirements and develop a comprehensive solution.

We hope this article has helped you understand why your E-commerce store needs to be accessible. Feel free to contact AEL Data, if you would need any assistance regarding your website accessibility issues or need an accessibility audit of your website.