Is accessibility mandatory for online shops?
Yes. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires consumer-facing online shops to meet WCAG 2.1 AA starting in 2025. This applies in particular to the ordering and checkout process, product pages and contact forms. A technical WCAG audit and documentation form the basis of a reliable accessibility workflow.
- Consumer-facing online shops are explicitly in scope of the EAA.
- The legal benchmark is WCAG 2.1 AA, harmonized via EN 301 549.
- Documented, ongoing accessibility efforts help demonstrate good faith to authorities.
These barriers are common in shop systems and directly affect conversion for users relying on assistive technology.
Checkout & forms
Unlabeled fields, error messages that screen readers don't announce, and steps that can't be completed by keyboard block purchases.
Product images & media
Missing or unhelpful alt text means screen reader users can't tell products apart or understand key visual details.
Filters & faceted search
Filter and sorting controls that update results without announcing changes leave keyboard and screen reader users stuck.
Cart & modals
Quick-view and cart overlays that trap focus or can't be closed by keyboard make core actions impossible.
Cookie banners & overlays
Consent layers that aren't keyboard-operable or block the page break accessibility before users even reach your products.
How navable helps online shops
Automated and AI-semantic scanning, plus documentation — without heavy consulting.
Scan the whole shop domain
Crawl your domain or import a sitemap and audit product, category and content pages automatically, with scheduled re-scans for ongoing monitoring.
Audit checkout across page states
Multi-state and authenticated audits check the cart, individual checkout steps and the state after cookie banners — with a screenshot per state.
AI fix-prompts for developers
Each finding comes with a copy-ready prompt for AI IDEs, so your team can act on issues quickly instead of deciphering raw rule output.
Generate an accessibility statement
Create an EAA-aligned accessibility statement linked to your audit results and download reports for your documentation.
What you get
- Automated WCAG 2.1 AA audit, extended by AI-semantic rules
- Multi-state and multi-device scanning (desktop + mobile)
- Copy-ready AI fix-prompts per violation
- Downloadable reports and a generated EAA accessibility statement
Where conventional scanners fall short in E-Commerce
Login and checkout states
Many simple crawlers stop at publicly accessible URLs. For a shop, however, what happens in the cart and during checkout is crucial. navable supports configurable interaction steps and page states for these exact tests.
Cookie banners and dynamic content
Filters, dialogs, and consent layers change the state of a page. A repeatable browser workflow can test these states much more reliably than a simple static HTML scan.
Semantic quality
Rule-based checks are important, but they don't cover every context-dependent issue. navable augments the audit workflow with selected AI-semantic rules, for example for checking the quality of labels or link texts.
Audit and documentation
A single scan result does not equal an ongoing process. navable connects findings, re-audits, reports, and statement generation in one platform.
Frequently asked questions
Related Resources
Useful links and resources to explore further.