E-commerce Accessibility: Complete Guide to RGAA Compliance

Why accessibility matters for e-commerce

E-commerce accessibility is now a legal obligation and a growth lever. Since the European Accessibility Act took effect on June 28, 2025, online stores of companies with more than 10 employees or €2M+ revenue must comply with digital accessibility requirements.

Studies show that inaccessible sites lose up to 15-20% of potential revenue by excluding users who could have purchased.

E-commerce-specific challenges

• Complex purchase flows — Cart, address, delivery, payment, confirmation — each step must be fully accessible.
• Rich interactive components — Filters, sorts, carousels, variant selectors, image zoom, rating systems.
• Critical forms — Delivery address and payment information where any accessibility error can block a transaction.
• Dynamic content — Cart updates, price changes, stock notifications that must be announced to screen readers.
• Third-party integrations — Payment providers, chat widgets, delivery trackers that must also be accessible.

Accessible product pages

• Images — Descriptive alt text for product photos, empty alt for decorative images.
• Prices — If a price is crossed out, provide text for screen readers: "Reduced price: €29.99, was €49.99".
• Availability — Don't convey stock status by color alone. Always include explicit text.
• Ratings — Star ratings need text alternatives: aria-label="Rating: 4 out of 5 stars".
• Add to cart — Use aria-live="polite" to announce confirmation to screen readers.

Accessible checkout flow

Cart

• Use semantic HTML tables or lists for cart items.
• Label quantity buttons explicitly: "Increase quantity of [product]".
• Update totals with aria-live regions.

Step indicator

<nav aria-label="Checkout steps">
  <ol>
    <li aria-current="step">1. Cart</li>
    <li>2. Delivery</li>
    <li>3. Payment</li>
    <li>4. Confirmation</li>
  </ol>
</nav>

Forms

• Explicit labels for every field.
• Proper autocomplete attributes (given-name, street-address, cc-number).
• Error messages linked to fields with aria-describedby.
• Required fields marked with aria-required="true".

E-commerce accessibility checklist

Tip: Start by testing your checkout flow with RGAA Test to identify the most critical issues. Cart, form, and payment pages are most likely to block purchases for users with disabilities.