An inaccessible shop loses sales
Digital accessibility is not only a regulatory matter. For an online shop, it is a conversion matter: if a customer cannot read a product page, pick a variant, fill in an address or pay using the keyboard, the sale is lost.
Since the European Accessibility Act (EU Directive 2019/882) began to apply on 28 June 2025, more consumer-facing digital services, e-commerce included, fall within the scope of accessibility requirements across the European Union.
Who is covered, and who is exempt
The Act applies to businesses offering services to consumers, online selling included. Microenterprises providing services are exempt: under the directive, that means fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million euros. Each Member State has transposed the directive into its own law, so the detail of obligations and enforcement varies from one country to another.
A point many business owners overlook: services already on the market before 28 June 2025 benefit from a transition period until 28 June 2030 before they must comply. That is no reason to wait, because bringing a live website into line takes time and is better done gradually than in a rush.
A website that already meets WCAG 2.1 level AA (the level referenced by the harmonised European standard EN 301 549, and by France's RGAA 4.1.2) covers most of the web side of the EAA. It still needs the elements specific to the Act: accessible information about the service, accessible customer support, and continuity between channels (website, app, kiosk, staff), depending on the type of business.
What the penalties mean in practice
The risk is not theoretical. Penalties are set by each Member State. In France, for example, they can reach 50,000 euros per service for technical non-compliance, and up to 25,000 euros for failing to publish an accessibility statement, a fine that can be renewed every six months until the situation is put right.
Beyond the financial risk, a shop that is hard to use with a keyboard or a screen reader also quietly loses customers who have no declared disability but run into friction: a slow connection, a cracked screen, a noisy environment, tired eyes at the end of the day.
Do not wait for the 2030 deadline
The transition period until 28 June 2030 for services already on the market gives a false sense of comfort. Many business owners read it as permission to do nothing for five years. That is a misjudgement, for a simple reason: making a live website accessible, one that changes every week with new product pages and new content, cannot be done over a weekend. It is a gradual project that takes time, adjustments and new skills.
Starting early spreads the effort across the normal running of the shop, instead of concentrating it in a last-minute race when providers will be overbooked and prices higher. It also means capturing the commercial benefits of accessibility now, without waiting for a deadline that only concerns the regulatory side. In other words, 2030 is a deadline, not a starting date.
The critical areas of an e-commerce site
The product page
The name, price, variants, images, reviews, stock level and add-to-basket button must all be understandable with a keyboard and with a screen reader.
The basket
Quantities, removals, discounts, delivery charges and totals must be clearly announced. A silent error in the basket often blocks the purchase.
The checkout
Address, delivery and payment forms need proper labels, readable error messages and a logical order of navigation.
Documents and emails
Invoices, confirmations, terms and conditions and transactional emails must remain readable and understandable.
The checks to run first
Sufficient contrast for text, prices and buttons.
Full keyboard navigation.
Visible focus on links, buttons and fields.
Text alternatives for images that carry information.
Explicit labels on forms.
Error messages tied to the fields concerned.
Consistent page titles and HTML heading hierarchy.
No blocking point in the basket or at payment when using a screen reader.
Accessibility and conversion go together
Many accessibility fixes improve the experience for every customer: more legible buttons, clearer forms, better explained errors, steadier navigation, a cleaner mobile layout. Accessibility is therefore not a layer to add at the end of a project, but a quality criterion to build in from the design stage, just like technical performance (see our article on the fundamentals of a high-performing website).
For a redesign or a new shop, accessibility has to be planned in the mock-ups, the development, the acceptance testing and the day-to-day editing. A site can be compliant at launch and then slip if the product pages, images and pages added later do not follow the rules: it is an ongoing effort, not a one-off milestone.
How to test your site in practice
You do not need expensive tools for a first diagnosis:
Keyboard only: unplug the mouse and go through the checkout with Tab, Enter and the arrow keys. If you lose the visible focus or get stuck somewhere, a keyboard user will too.
Screen reader: NVDA (free, Windows) or VoiceOver (built into macOS and iOS) let you hear what a visually impaired user actually perceives of your product page or basket.
axe DevTools extension: free, it scans a page and automatically reports the most common technical failures (contrast, missing text alternatives, heading structure).
Zoom to 200%: a site that breaks visually at that zoom level also penalises visually impaired users who do not use a screen reader.
These checks do not replace a full audit, but they quickly reveal the most obvious blocking points before you start a structured approach.
A typical approach
On an existing shop, gradual compliance usually follows this order:
Initial audit: testing the journeys that generate revenue (product page, basket, account creation, payment, contact) with a screen reader and with the keyboard alone.
Prioritisation: sorting the gaps into real blockers (they prevent the purchase) and minor issues (they get in the way without blocking).
Technical fixes: contrast, text alternatives, form labels, visible focus, heading structure.
Accessibility statement: publishing the document required by the regulations, with the actual level of compliance and an action plan for the remaining gaps.
Follow-up: a check each time content is added (new product page, new page) to avoid regressions.
A worthwhile project, not a constraint to endure
The accessibility of an online shop cannot be reduced to a regulatory box to tick. It is first a commercial question: every obstacle removed from a product page, a basket or the payment step is a sale that becomes possible again, for an audience far wider than people with a declared disability. Done well, compliance improves the experience of every customer, strengthens the technical quality of the site and removes a risk of penalties that is very real.
The right reflex is neither to tackle everything at once nor to wait for the final deadline, but to start with the journeys that sell, fix the real blockers and put follow-up in place so as not to slip back. Every step pays off straight away, in conversion as in legal peace of mind.
Our accessibility compliance service (EAA and WCAG) follows exactly this method. It can be built in from the start of an online shop creation, or applied as fixes to an existing shop through our e-commerce maintenance.
Sources: EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2019/882 · RGAA, French general accessibility improvement framework · WCAG 2.2 · RGAA-IA, European Accessibility Act France 2025