Imagine you were about to buy a birthday present for a friend. You had spent hours researching and finding just the right product. But when you try to make the purchase, the online shopping cart is incompatible with your device, there is just no possibility to proceed, no matter how hard you try. Quite an annoying scenario and a terrible user experience! But this is unfortunately very common today for people with disabilities. For many, content and functionality on e-commerce sites are not made accessible, meaning they are excluded from making purchases.
Inaccessible E-commerce Is Leaving Out a Big Customer Group
Are there really that many people affected by web accessibility issues? Why should we invest in this? Our customers don’t have any disabilities. These are all common questions and misperceptions around accessibility.
In fact, one out of four adults in the EU has some sort of disability. In Sweden, that figure is roughly one out of five. Disabilities are more common than you might think, and many disabilities are hidden, such as dyslexia, deafness, and ADHD. Disabilities can also be temporary. For example, a broken arm or people might have situational limitations, such as bright sunlight. Furthermore, as we grow older, most of us will live part of our lives with a disability. Having an inaccessible e-commerce solution means limiting your customer base and shutting out many people from buying your products.