July 10, 2024, 5:04 pm | Read time: 9 minutes

Why bother setting foot in a store when you can conveniently order your desired items from home on your computer? Today, consumers can choose from a variety of online shopping portals. For people with disabilities, these are particularly important. This makes it all the more urgent to look at the accessibility of online shops in Germany. A new test reveals that many providers still have a lot of catching up to do.

Accessibility of Online Shops Under Scrutiny

The new test on the accessibility of online shops in Germany was initiated by four partners: Google Germany GmbH, Aktion Mensch e.V., Stiftung Pfennigparade, and BITV-Consult. This collaboration conducted the project for the second time after 2023.

The need for an accessible online shopping experience is clear: According to the test report, 7.8 million people in Germany live with a recognized severe disability, relying on keyboard-only navigation, Braille displays, joysticks, or screen readers. Many more live with milder disabilities or impairments.

This group, in particular, uses the internet more than average and consequently shops online more often. According to the report, 61 percent of those affected shop this way, compared to only 51 percent of people without impairments using online portals for shopping. The main reasons for the former group are limited mobility and avoiding unnecessary and strenuous trips.

Also interesting: How not to sign up for online shops

These 8 Criteria Were the Focus

To check the accessibility of online shops, the organizers looked at the “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)–guidelines for digital accessibility. From these, they selected eight criteria for the test to focus on. These are:

1. Keyboard Accessibility: A fundamental aspect on which many others build–can someone navigate the website using only a keyboard?
2. Labels, Instructions, or Guidance: A label must clearly describe what input is required from the user.
3. Change Text Size: Content must be able to be enlarged up to 200 percent without losing information or functionality.
4. Contrast of Text and Graphics: Graphical and control elements, as well as symbols and text, must be readable through sufficient contrast.
5. Multimedia Content: Product videos should, among other things, provide subtitles and audio descriptions.
6. Pause, Stop, Hide: Videos and image sliders should be able to pause automatically. Otherwise, they can be very distracting, and people may have trouble capturing briefly shown information.
7. Headings and Labels: Must correctly designate the associated content and be distinguishable. Multiple identical headings should be avoided.
8. Name, Role, Value: HTML control elements should be programmed to be conveyed and usable with assistive technologies. For example, a screen reader should be able to indicate whether a menu item is currently open or active. In this context, alternative texts are crucial for clear information. “Name” can be the unique designation of a menu, “Role” describes type and behavior (button, link), and “Value” can express whether a checkbox is checked or a menu is expanded.

Keyboard accessibility was the most important criterion for the test. If an online shop failed at this point, further examination of other factors was unnecessary.

Also interesting: Is it wise to complete online purchases as a guest?

How the Accessibility Test of Online Shops Was Conducted

As in 2023, the top 500 websites in Germany were examined based on their traffic. From these, 71 platforms with an e-commerce web shop offering a complete “user journey”–from browsing the database for suitable goods to completing the purchase–were selected.

For the test, the team first evaluated only keyboard accessibility. Only if this was present did they proceed to examine other factors based on the complete “user journey.” The pure payment process was no longer considered, as many sites rely on external services that can vary greatly.

The websites examined include well-known brands and companies such as Amazon, Otto, Media Markt and Saturn, Lidl, Zalando, and Ikea. Although the entire list mainly focuses on German-language offerings, some international websites like amazon.com or ebay.com are also included.

Keyboard Accessibility–Online Shops Disappoint

The test results are disappointing. Of the 71 sites, only 15 offered sufficiently good keyboard accessibility. Thus, less than a quarter of the websites examined qualified for further consideration, with their percentage share even slightly decreasing from 22 to 21 percent.

The most common problem was a lack of keyboard focus, meaning it was not clear which control element was currently selected. Testers also found incorrect or illogical tab sequences. Additionally, there were repeated complaints about poor contrast and the inability to close pop-ups, which hindered navigation of the main content.

Labels, Instructions, or Guidance

In this category, at least 9 of the remaining 15 web shops scored well, which is 60 percent. However, in the previous year, 17 portals qualified, all of which showed good labeling.

For 2024, Aktion Mensch highlights the online furniture store xxxlutz.de positively.

Change Text Size

Seventy-three percent of the shops, or 11 out of 15, offer the ability to change text size for better readability. In 2023, it was 15 out of 17 and 88 percent.

In this category, zalando-lounge.de impressed, where the simple “pinch to zoom” gesture works. However, it should be noted that people with limited mobility may still have problems with this.

Contrast of Text and Graphics

Twelve of the 15 online shops, or 80 percent, showed good contrast for sufficient visibility of graphics and text. However, there is no comparison to 2023, as a corresponding test was not conducted last year. Instead, text spacing was examined, which 94 percent (16 out of 17) met.

Clear contrasts of text and control elements were especially seen on nike.com.

Multimedia Content

Of the 15 platforms, six had video or audio content embedded in the direct “user journey.” However, only one provided subtitles. These were missing elsewhere, as were alternative options for silent or purely audio formats. For example, audio descriptions for videos with only music were also missing, so people with visual impairments could still get an impression of the screen content.

In 2023, there was also only one shop that offered subtitles. This year, apple.com is praised for providing subtitles and the option for additional transcription. Even sign language can be displayed.

Pause, Stop, Hide

There is a significant improvement in this criterion compared to the previous year. In 2023, none of the 17 online shops offered sufficient options to pause, stop, or hide flashing or animated elements.

In 2024, 11 websites offered such elements, with 5 meeting the test criteria. This corresponds to a share of 45 percent. Qvc.de performed particularly well, as videos there start muted automatically (so the sound does not disturb) and can be paused at any time.

Headings and Labels

Here, too, the test team noted a significant improvement compared to 2023: In 2023, only one of the 17 examined sites had meaningful headings. In 2024, 14 out of 15 shopping portals did, which corresponds to a share of 93 percent.

Ikea.com scored particularly well. The table of contents of a product page, for example, offered complete and precise headings in the right places.

Name, Role, Value

There was also an improvement in the last test criterion. The share of sites whose programming facilitates the assistive technology transmission of important information increased from 71 to 93 percent.

The online portal for the drugstore chain dm was positively noted. For example, when voice support was activated, the name of the input field, its role, and its value were correctly conveyed.

Time Pressure Increases for Shop Operators

Despite partial improvements, the overall result is far from good. The vast majority of website operators are under political pressure to drastically increase the accessibility of their online shops as soon as possible. This is because the Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG), based on the European Accessibility Directive, will come into force on June 28, 2025.

From this day on, those who do not provide accessible offerings must expect warnings or even fines. In the end, all customers benefit from the measures–more clarity and usability have never harmed anyone. Aktion Mensch highlights the opportunities of artificial intelligence, as it can help create and implement appropriate innovations.

Accessibility Also a Big Opportunity for Companies

Companies themselves also benefit in the long run. After all, it involves several million customers with significant purchasing power. Excluding them simply means losing a lot of potential revenue.

How each of the examined shopping sites performed is not known. Aktion Mensch responded to a request from TECHBOOK, stating that they do not want to publish a ranking to avoid highlighting “supposed negative examples.”

More on the topic

Investigation by the VZBV Consumer Advocates Uncover Flaws in Online Stores

Psychologically Explainable Why So Many Fall for Fake Shops

Statement from Otto

TECHBOOK inquired with Amazon, Media Markt and Saturn, and Otto about how they assess the topic of accessibility and what plans they have in this regard.

Otto stated that there is still much to do to complete the planned measures by 2025. There are also some challenges to overcome:

“The devil is in the details. To give an example: Many blind people work with special programs that read texts from websites. We have also implemented these through interfaces, but found in tests that unimportant or superfluous things are also read aloud, which only confuses users. Here, adjustments must be made manually, meaning reprogramming. This takes time and makes implementation repeatedly challenging.”

Spokesperson from Otto

Adjustments to image descriptions on product pages are also still necessary. However, they are optimistic about achieving this.

Statements from Amazon and MediaMarktSaturn

The other companies also spoke out. A spokesperson from MediaMarktSaturn told TECHBOOK that they are currently working on the “strategy for accessibility on our online shops” and are reviewing the next steps. However, they could not say anything at this time.

Amazon, in turn, shared the following with us:

“We welcome initiatives to improve accessibility and pursue a customer-focused approach at Amazon. Therefore, our main focus is on meeting the accessibility requirements that customers have. Indeed, Amazon has been committed to a culture of accessibility for many years. In many areas, we have proactively made efforts to offer accessible features–even when not legally required.

We believe it is important to create an inclusive experience for our customers. Therefore, we work backward from these customer needs, basing our approach on numerous accessibility guidelines and industry best practices. We believe in continuously improving our customer experience to ensure that all customers can interact with Amazon’s products and services without barriers. We pursue this approach because Amazon is working worldwide on highly dynamic and constantly evolving online experiences to offer its services to customers.”

Spokesperson from Amazon

Additionally, the company refers to an information page on existing accessibility options for using the website.