Most Common Accessibility Issues Found on E-Commerce websites
If you run an online store, accessibility issues could be costing you sales.
Most e-commerce websites are built with a lot of moving parts: product pages, filters, popups, carts, checkout forms, third-party apps, promotions, and account areas. When those pieces are not designed with accessibility in mind, shoppers can run into barriers that make browsing, comparing products, or completing a purchase hard, or even impossible.
The tricky part is that many of these problems do not look obvious at first. A product image might seem fine until you realize the alt text is missing. A sale banner may match the brand colors beautifully but have poor contrast, making it difficult to read. A checkout form might look fine while still being frustrating for someone who uses a keyboard, screen reader, or magnification.
The good news is that the most common accessibility issues on e-commerce websites are often easily fixable. In many cases, they do not require a massive rebuild. They are simple improvements that make your store easier to use, easier to trust, and easier to buy from.
In this post, we will walk through the issues that show up most often, explain why they matter, and cover straightforward ways to improve them.
In This Article
Why Accessibility Issues are so Common on E-commerce Websites
Carousels and Auto-Rotating Content
Why Accessibility Issues are so Common on E-commerce Websites
E-commerce sites tend to collect complexity fast. A store may start with a simple homepage and a few products, then grow into a mix of product variations, filter systems, promo bars, apps, reviews, customer accounts, upsells, cart drawers, and multi-step checkout flows. Every added feature introduces more chances for accessibility problems.
Accessibility issues on e-commerce sites are usually not about a business owner not caring. More often, they had no knowledge of the need to make their site accessible, so it was built inadvertently adding one issue on top of another.
That causes real problems for your customers. If someone cannot tell which filter is active, cannot move through the menu with a keyboard, cannot understand a form error, or cannot read low-contrast text, they are more likely to leave before making a purchase.
Missing or Weak Alt Text
Product images do a lot of work on an e-commerce site. They show color, shape, material, pattern, packaging, size, and other details that help shoppers decide whether something is right for them. When those images are missing alt text, or the alt text is too vague to be useful, some shoppers miss important information.
This is one of the most common issues we see. Sometimes the alt text is left blank by accident. Sometimes it is filled with a file name, a product code, or something generic like “product image.” None of that helps someone using a screen reader understand what the product is.
The best solution for this is to write alt text describing the image, what it is and/or how it works. If the image helps someone make a buying decision, the alt text should communicate the useful details. For example, “shirt” is too vague. “Women’s blue denim button-up shirt with front pockets” is much more helpful.
This does not mean every image needs a long description. Decorative images should usually be skipped with empty alt text, while functional images, like an icon that links to the cart or opens search, should be labeled by action rather than appearance.
For store owners, this is a good reminder to review your process for adding new products to your shop. If someone is just supposed to remember to add alt text every time a new product is launched, it is easy for this to be missed. Save yourself a lot of time later by writing a product launch SOP that includes adding appropriate alt text to images.
Low Color Contrast
Low color contrast is another issue that shows up all over e-commerce sites. It often comes from design choices that look stylish or modern at first glance but are difficult to read for many customers.
The minimum contrast ratios we need to meet according to WCAG are that normal text (17pt or smaller) should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, while large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ Bold) should have at least 3:1.
For an online store, contrast problems often affect product descriptions, navigation links, discount messages, variation selectors, coupon fields, and checkout buttons. These are not minor details. They are key parts of how someone shops.
This fix is super simple. Get yourself a FREE color contrast checker and test the foreground color to the background color. Usually slightly adjusting a text or background color will do the trick, without disrupting your overall brand aesthetic. Start with the parts of the site closest to conversion and work outward from there.
Menus, Filters, and Popups
A lot of online stores are designed around mouse and touch interactions. That is why menus, filters, drawers, image galleries, and promotional popups often break down for keyboard users.
This is especially common with hover-based menus, filter panels that trap focus, popups that are hard to close without a mouse, or product option selectors that are confusing to move through with the Tab key.
This matters more than many business owners realize. Someone may be shopping with a keyboard because of a permanent disability, a temporary injury, a repetitive strain issue, or simply because that is how they navigate. If key features do not work, the store becomes frustrating very quickly.
One of the easiest ways to test this is to put your mouse aside and try to shop your own site using only the keyboard. Can you open and close the main menu? Can you move through filters clearly? Can you add a product to the cart? Can you close a popup? Can you always tell where you are on the page?
If the answer is no at any point, that is a problem that needs to be addressed right away.
Fixing this requires more technical skill, so this is something you’d want to hire an Accessibility Professional for.
Checkout Forms
Checkout is one of the main areas where accessibility issues turn into lost revenue.
Many e-commerce checkout forms still rely too heavily on placeholder text, unclear field labels, missing instructions, and vague error messages.
W3C form guidance makes clear that form controls need labels that identify their purpose, and users need instructions when specific input is required. This is especially important during checkout, where people are entering addresses, payment details, phone numbers, and promo codes.
Some basic fixes you can handle yourself like, use visible labels that don’t disappear when someone fills in their answer, mark required fields clearly, or explain an expected format Then make error messages specific and helpful. Instead of “invalid entry,” tell the shopper exactly what needs to change, such as “Enter a valid email address.”
It also helps to make sure errors are not shown by color alone. Pair color with text and, when helpful, icons or other cues. That makes the message easier to notice and easier to understand.
This is one of the best places to focus if you want a fix that supports both accessibility and conversions.
Vague Buttons and Links
Buttons and links should tell people what will happen next. On many e-commerce sites, this can be tricky.
You will often see repeated phrases like “Shop now,” “Learn more,” “Read more,” or “View details” used in multiple sections of the same page. Visually, that may seem fine. But for someone using a screen reader and navigating by links, repeated vague labels make the page harder to understand.
WCAG guidance on link purpose explains that link text should help users understand where a link goes or what it does. That simply means that people should not have to guess where they will land if they click on a link or button.
A better option is to make the action specific. “Shop women’s jackets” is clearer than “Shop now.” “View details for Classic Leather Tote” is clearer than “View details.”
There are two ways to handle making these changes to your buttons and links. You can add it using ARIA, if you know how to code. That will add a more detailed label to your button in the background for screen reader users, while keeping the visible text simpler, like “Shop Now.” If you don’t have this skillset or capability in your platform, then it is best to make the visible label as descriptive as possible.
*Note
This would be a good area to test with a screen reader. Your platform may have ARIA setup for you, so a “Buy Now” button might actually read “Product name + Buy Now” to a screen reader user. If so, you’re good to go!
Small Tap Targets
Mobile shopping brings its own set of accessibility issues, and one of the most common is tap targets that are too small.
Tiny close icons, cramped quantity selectors, narrow filter toggles, crowded wish list buttons, and small variation selectors can all make a mobile store harder to use. WCAG target size guideline is meant to help people with dexterity limitations and people using touch devices who have trouble activating small or tightly packed controls.
Improving this can be as simple as increasing the size of buttons and icons or adding more space around them. When controls are easier to tap, it’s easier for the user to buy, subscribe, or download your products.
Carousels and Auto-Rotating Content
Carousels, rotating promos, and auto-advancing homepage banners are still common on e-commerce sites, but they often create accessibility barriers.
When content moves automatically, some users do not get enough time to read it or interact with it. Others may lose track of where they are, especially if keyboard focus behaves unpredictably around rotating content. Giving users control over moving content is important so they are not forced to race the interface (corny, I know).
In many cases, the best fix is to stop using auto-rotation altogether. A static promotional section is often easier to understand and just as effective. If a carousel stays, it should have clear pause and navigation controls that are easy to use with both keyboard and touch.
A Simple Way to Prioritize Fixes
If your store has several accessibility issues, it can be hard to know where to begin. The easiest approach is to start with the areas closest to a sale.
Begin with product pages, then move to the cart, then checkout, and circle back to the rest of the site. Within those areas, focus first on the issues that create the biggest barriers: missing alt text, low contrast, keyboard access problems, missing labels, weak error messages, and small tap targets.
This will help you make meaningful improvements without getting lost in a giant to-do list. It also keeps the work focused in the parts of your site people rely on most.
Build in Accessibility
One of the biggest mistakes e-commerce businesses make is looking for a shortcut after problems start piling up. Accessibility is not something a widget can magically fix.
Real accessibility comes from the way your site is structured, designed, written, and built. That includes your templates, your forms, your navigation, your product content, and the third-party tools you add over time.
This matters even more on e-commerce sites because they change constantly. New products get added. Seasonal promotions go live. apps come and go. Layouts shift. That means accessibility needs to be part of ongoing site care, not a one-time project.
When accessibility is built in from the start, your store becomes easier to use, easier to trust, and easier to maintain. That is better for inclusion, better for usability, and better for business.
If you’d like to learn more about accessibility widgets read this article, Breaking Down What Accessibility Widgets Do.
We helps small businesses build websites that are accessible, clear, and easier for EVERYONE to use from the start. If you want a professional review of your site’s accessibility, we’d love to take a look.
Ecommerce Website FAQs
What are the most common accessibility issues on e-commerce websites?
The most common issues include missing alt text, low color contrast, keyboard-inaccessible menus or filters, unclear form labels, weak error messages, vague link text, and moving content that is hard to control.
Why is accessibility especially important for e-commerce sites?
Online stores depend on people being able to find products, compare options, complete forms, and finish checkout without friction. When accessibility barriers show up in those steps, shoppers are more likely to leave before buying.
What is the easiest place to start fixing accessibility on an online store?
A strong place to start is the checkout flow, followed by product pages. Clear labels, helpful error messages, better contrast, and keyboard access improvements can make a noticeable difference quickly.
Are accessibility overlays a good fix for e-commerce websites?
No. Overlays do not fix the underlying problems in your code, structure, content, or interactions. They can create a false sense of security while the real barriers remain. Built-in accessibility is the better path.
How often should an e-commerce site be reviewed for accessibility?
Regularly. E-commerce sites change often, so accessibility should be reviewed as part of ongoing maintenance whenever products, features, layouts, or third-party tools are updated.
