EAA and WCAG for Online Stores: What to Check First
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) has introduced new accessibility requirements for many businesses selling products and services within the European Union. For online stores, this generally means ensuring the website complies with the accessibility principles defined by WCAG 2.1 Level AA, helping people with disabilities browse products, complete purchases, and access online services without unnecessary barriers.
For many store owners, accessibility can seem overwhelming at first. WCAG contains dozens of technical success criteria, making it difficult to know where to begin.
The good news is that most online stores don’t need to be rebuilt from scratch. The best approach is to start by checking the parts of the website that have the greatest impact on both customers and compliance.
Start with the Checkout Process
If customers cannot complete a purchase, accessibility becomes more than a legal requirement—it directly affects sales.
The checkout is usually the most complex part of an online store, combining forms, validation, payment methods, shipping options, and confirmation pages. Every step should be usable by people relying on keyboards, screen readers, or other assistive technologies.
When reviewing your checkout, pay particular attention to how easy it is for every customer to complete a purchase, regardless of how they interact with your website.
Every form field should have a clear, permanent text label that explains what information is expected. Placeholders inside input fields are not a reliable substitute because they often disappear as soon as the user starts typing. Someone returning to correct a mistake may no longer know what the field was asking for, and some assistive technologies do not treat placeholders as proper labels.
Required fields should be clearly identified so customers know which information must be provided before they can continue. If a customer makes a mistake, the website should explain exactly what went wrong and how to fix it. Messages such as “Please enter a valid email address” or “Postal code is required” are much more helpful than simply highlighting a field in red or displaying a generic error.
Clear instructions also help customers with cognitive and learning disabilities. Forms should avoid unnecessary complexity, explain errors in plain language, and make it obvious what the user needs to do next.
Finally, try completing the entire checkout without using a mouse. This is important because not every customer is able to use one. People with motor impairments may rely entirely on a keyboard, while others use assistive technologies that navigate websites through keyboard commands. If any field, button, or payment option cannot be reached or activated using the Tab, Enter, or Space keys, those customers may be unable to complete their purchase.
Can Your Store Be Used Without a Mouse?
Many people with motor impairments rely entirely on keyboard navigation.
While the checkout is the most business-critical part of an online store, keyboard accessibility should extend to the entire website. Customers need to be able to browse products, use search and filters, navigate menus, and access their account without relying on a mouse.
One of the quickest ways to assess accessibility is to put the mouse aside and navigate the website using only the Tab, Shift + Tab, Enter, and Space keys.
Try completing a typical customer journey:
- browse the homepage;
- open navigation menus;
- search for a product;
- browse product categories;
- use filters and sorting options;
- view product pages;
- add an item to the cart.
As you move through the website using the Tab key, a visible outline or highlight should appear around the currently selected link, button, or form field. Without it, keyboard users may not know where they are on the page or which element will be activated when they press Enter.
Check Product Images and Alternative Text
Images play a major role in e-commerce, but customers with visual impairments often rely on screen readers to understand the content of a page. Because screen readers cannot interpret images on their own, they depend on alternative text (alt text) to describe what an image represents.
Not every image needs the same type of description. Product photos should describe the product being shown, while category banners or promotional graphics should communicate any important information they contain. Decorative images that don’t add meaningful content should use an empty alt="" attribute so screen readers simply skip them instead of announcing unnecessary information.
Good alternative text describes the purpose of the image rather than every visual detail. For example, “Blue waterproof hiking backpack” is much more useful than simply “Image” or a file name such as IMG_1234.jpg.
Make Multimedia Accessible
Many online stores use product demonstrations, promotional videos, or customer testimonials to help shoppers make purchasing decisions. Customers who are deaf or hard of hearing may not be able to access this information if it is available only through audio.
Whenever a video contains spoken information, captions should be provided so users can follow the content without sound. If important information is presented only through audio, consider providing a transcript as well.
Accessibility also benefits customers in everyday situations, such as watching videos in a noisy environment or with the sound turned off.
Make Sure Content Is Easy to Read
Good readability is essential for every online store, but it is particularly important for people with low vision, colour vision deficiencies, and some cognitive or learning disabilities. Poor contrast, confusing layouts, or overly complex content can make it difficult to find information and complete a purchase.
Review the website on different pages and devices, paying particular attention to:
- text that appears on coloured backgrounds;
- promotional banners;
- buttons and calls to action;
- product descriptions;
- prices and availability information.
WCAG recommends a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal-sized text and 3:1 for large text. Free tools such as the Colour Contrast Analyser can quickly identify areas that may need improvement.
It’s also worth increasing your browser zoom to around 200% to see how the website behaves. Text should remain readable, important content should still be visible, and users should be able to navigate the website without controls overlapping or becoming difficult to access.
Readability involves more than colour contrast. Long blocks of text, inconsistent layouts, unclear buttons, and overly complex language can also make websites harder to use. Clear headings, descriptive button labels, concise instructions, and predictable navigation help customers understand information and complete purchases more easily.
Check the Structure of Your Pages
Many screen reader users don’t read a webpage from top to bottom. Instead, they often navigate by jumping directly between headings to find the section they need. If headings are missing, out of order, or used only to make text appear larger, navigating the page becomes much more difficult.
A clear heading structure also benefits all visitors by making pages easier to scan and understand, especially on longer product or category pages.
For these reasons, headings should describe the content logically rather than being used purely for visual styling.
A well-structured page typically includes:
- one clear H1 heading;
- H2 headings for major sections;
- H3 headings for subsections where appropriate.
Skipping heading levels or using headings only to change font size can make navigation much more difficult for assistive technologies.
Don’t Forget Third-Party Components
Even if your website itself is well designed, accessibility problems can still come from third-party integrations.
Common examples include:
- cookie consent banners;
- live chat widgets;
- payment gateways;
- review plugins;
- product filters;
- sliders and pop-ups.
These components are often developed by different vendors and may not fully meet accessibility requirements. Since they are part of the customer journey, they should be included in your accessibility review rather than assumed to be compliant.
Although these components are often supplied by third-party vendors, your business is still responsible for the overall accessibility of the customer experience.
Test Your Website with Accessibility Tools
Automated testing tools are an excellent starting point because they quickly identify many common issues.
Popular options include:
These tools can detect missing alternative text, colour contrast issues, missing form labels, and many other common accessibility problems.
However, automated scans cannot identify every issue.
Accessibility Requires More Than an Automated Scan
Automated tools are excellent for identifying many technical problems quickly, but they cannot judge how easy a website is to use in practice.
An automated accessibility checker is similar to a spell checker. It can identify many common issues, such as missing alternative text, insufficient colour contrast, or form fields without labels, but it cannot determine whether users can actually complete important tasks without difficulty.
Manual testing remains essential. For example, automated tools may not detect whether:
- keyboard navigation follows a logical order;
- menus behave correctly without a mouse;
- error messages are clear and easy to understand;
- checkout is easy to complete using assistive technologies;
- screen readers announce content in a meaningful way.
The most reliable accessibility assessments combine automated scanning with manual testing. Automated tools help identify many technical issues quickly, while manual testing reveals usability problems that software alone cannot detect.
Accessibility Is an Ongoing Process
Accessibility should not be treated as a one-time project.
Every new plugin, theme update, design change, product filter, or marketing campaign has the potential to introduce new accessibility issues.
Regular reviews help ensure that your website remains compliant as it evolves.
If you’re unsure where your website stands, a professional accessibility audit can identify existing issues, explain their impact, and prioritise the changes that matter most. Our WCAG audit and EAA compliance service helps businesses assess their websites against current accessibility requirements and develop a practical plan for achieving compliance.
Accessibility Benefits Everyone
Although accessibility requirements are designed to remove barriers for people with disabilities, many improvements benefit every visitor. Clear navigation, readable text, well-structured forms, captions, and logical page layouts make online stores easier to use for everyone, including older users, people browsing on mobile devices, and customers shopping in noisy or distracting environments.
Making your online store easier to use can improve the overall shopping experience, reduce frustration during checkout, and help more customers complete their purchases successfully.
Conclusion
The European Accessibility Act has made web accessibility an important consideration for many online stores operating within the EU. While WCAG 2.1 Level AA contains many detailed requirements, you don’t need to tackle everything at once.
Start with the areas that have the greatest impact on your customers: checkout, keyboard navigation, images, forms, page structure, and third-party components. From there, combine automated testing with manual review to build a clearer picture of your website’s accessibility.
Taking a systematic approach not only helps meet legal requirements but also creates a better shopping experience for every visitor.
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