Let's be upfront about something right from the start: making an eCommerce website accessible is not fundamentally different from making any other type of website accessible. Accessibility is accessibility.
That said, we didn't roll up our sleeves and write this article for nothing.
Accessibility for online stores is a critical step that allows people with disabilities not just to browse content, but — most importantly — to actually complete a purchase. That's the whole point, after all. Business owners invest thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars building an eCommerce site. Why leave an entire market segment behind?
So while the fundamentals of accessibility apply here just as they do anywhere else, there are several eCommerce-specific considerations that deserve special attention.
Don't Overlook the Fine Print
One of the most common accessibility issues on eCommerce sites involves images — product banners, promotional graphics — that contain embedded text.
These images must include a proper text description in the code so that screen readers can convey what's displayed (for a deeper dive on this, read our article on the ALT tag).
But what about the fine print inside those images?
Many site owners overlook small-print text and don't consider it a priority during accessibility work.
Think about users who are blind or have low vision — if they miss the fine print, they miss key terms and conditions, promotional details, exclusions, and other information that directly affects their purchasing decision and the message you intended to communicate.
They have every right to know exactly what they're buying and under what conditions.
Original Price vs. Sale Price (Strikethrough Text)
We've all seen eCommerce sites that display an original price X alongside a current price Y, with the original price shown with a strikethrough like this: X.
When we audit eCommerce sites for accessibility, we often find that the strikethrough price isn't properly communicated to users who are blind or have low vision.
In practice, the user's screen reader reads out two numbers — say, $49.90 and $89.90 — without clarifying which is the original price and which is the discounted one.
An accessible eCommerce site will allow the screen reader to tell the user: "Original price before discount" and "Current price after discount."
We handle this at the code level through technical solutions provided by USER A.
Product Images
When it comes to product images, the key question is: is the image clickable or not?
If the image is clickable, it must have a descriptive label. The user's screen reader needs to be able to announce that the image is a link and where clicking it will take the user.
On the other hand, if the image is not clickable, there's no need to add button-style description.
Related tip:
When a product name is already displayed as text beneath a non-clickable image, there's no need to add an alternative description to the image itself. Here's why: the image isn't taking the user anywhere, and the description already exists as visible text — adding an alt description would simply cause the screen reader to read the same information twice.
Wish List
Another widely used eCommerce feature is the wish list — the ability to "heart" or favorite a product so it's saved for later.
In practice, the "favorite" button often appears first in the underlying code, before the product itself.
This means a user with a disability could accidentally favorite the wrong product without realizing it.
As part of our eCommerce accessibility work, we implement a technical solution that ensures the "favorite" button announces the exact product name when activated — so there's no ambiguity.
Product Comparison
Another important accessibility consideration in eCommerce is the product comparison feature.
Many online stores let users select two or more products to compare side by side.
The question we need to ask is: how does this look in the underlying code, and will it accurately communicate the comparison data to a user with a disability?
A sighted user can visually scan a comparison table left to right — say, comparing two washing machines — but for a user relying on assistive technology that reads the site's code, this is far from straightforward.
We frequently discover that the comparison layout isn't coded as a proper table at all.
There are technical solutions for this too, which we implement to ensure the comparison is rendered as a proper table structure at the code level — making it accessible to screen reader users.
Accessible "Add to Cart" Notifications
We covered add-to-cart notifications in our article on accessible pop-ups, but the topic is equally relevant here.
On many eCommerce sites, a side pop-up appears as soon as a product is added to the cart, confirming the action was successful.
For sighted users, this works great — but what about a user with low vision who never receives that confirmation?
As part of our eCommerce accessibility process, we verify that the add-to-cart confirmation is properly announced to assistive technologies and screen readers.
Price Range Filtering
Another common obstacle for users with disabilities on eCommerce sites is price filtering.
Most online stores offer a slider or input fields to filter products by minimum and maximum price.
When a filter is applied, the page content updates dynamically.
For a typical user, this is seamless — but for someone who is blind or has low vision, it can be disorienting, as the page effectively reloads in a way that disrupts navigation.
There are technical solutions for this as well, including ensuring that dynamic price filtering doesn't shift focus away from the filter controls when content reloads, or adding dedicated minimum and maximum price input fields where the user can simply type in their desired price range. All of this aims to give users with disabilities the same full range of options available to everyone else.
Forms on the Site
Many eCommerce sites include fairly complex forms — for example, separate fields for billing address and shipping address, among others.
We need to ensure that the entire form experience is accessible and that every field is clearly labeled so that users with low vision know exactly what each one is asking for.
We also need to make sure that keyboard navigation moves through fields in a logical order — for example, reaching the city field before the street name field, not the other way around.
Is That Everything?
Definitely not — there are many more parameters to consider when making an eCommerce site accessible, but it would take a book to cover them all. :)
If you'd like to learn more about web accessibility in general, we invite you to read our next article, which covers in detail what a full website accessibility implementation involves.
You might also be interested in: PDF Accessibility — since there's a good chance your store displays product manuals or technical specification sheets.
How Much Does eCommerce Accessibility Cost?
One of the top concerns for eCommerce site owners is, naturally, the cost of accessibility.
We'd be willing to bet you've already browsed a few providers and compared quotes for making your online store accessible.
At User A, we have good news: remember when we said that accessibility is fundamentally the same regardless of what type of site you have?
That applies to our pricing too. All of our accessibility services are offered at a single, competitively attractive flat rate.
That includes manual testing and remediation beyond automated fixes, an accessibility statement, and full technical support throughout the year.
Want to learn more? Get in touch — we'd love to talk.