Shop accessibility: where to start

Check which rules apply to your shop

The European Accessibility Act covers e-commerce services supplied to consumers in the EU. National implementing measures have applied since 28 June 2025. Your location, service and circumstances matter; this guide is not a legal determination.

The directive exempts microenterprises providing services from its service accessibility requirements. Its definition requires fewer than 10 persons employed. It also requires annual turnover OR an annual balance-sheet total not exceeding 2 million EUR. Both the employment condition and at least one financial condition must be met.

Having 10 persons employed does not meet that employment threshold. The exemption is not a blanket exemption from every accessibility law or from requirements for covered products. Check national rules and your circumstances before relying on it.

Try the shopping journey without a mouse

Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move between controls, Enter to follow links, and the appropriate keys for each control. Look for a visible focus indicator. Can you open navigation, select a product option, add to cart, and continue without getting trapped?

Check the cart, consent banner and checkout separately. Open and close dialogs, change quantities, and try an invalid form entry. Field labels, required-field instructions and errors must be understandable. Check whether a screen reader announces changes and errors, not just the initial page.

Check meaning and readability

Read product image descriptions: do they explain the information a customer needs? An image can have alternative text and still have an unhelpful description. Decorative images need different treatment.

Enlarge text to 200% and check whether content and controls remain usable. Check text contrast, page titles and headings. Record the page, the steps, the barrier and the customer it blocks. Give that record to your developer.

Use a scan as a starting list, not a certificate

Fronted Aurora’s Free scan checks public pages with automated WCAG 2.1 AA rules. It attempts linked category, product and cart pages when discoverable. It shows a Score, Issue titles and up to 3 detailed Issues with suggested Fix templates.

Images and fonts are not loaded. Blocked, missing and login-only pages are not checked. Payment pages after the cart need manual review. Templates require context-specific replacements and testing; they are not guaranteed corrected code.

W3C explains that no tool alone can determine accessibility conformance. A high Score does not establish legal compliance. Fix a barrier, repeat the exact journey, and arrange knowledgeable human evaluation for a fuller assessment.