How people with disabilities use Online Shops and where the giggest barriers lie

Just like for most of us, online shopping and all of its everyday advantages have become indispensable for blind people too. That is exactly why accessibility in the online shop determines whether users with disabilities can search for, compare and buy products independently.

An accessible online shop improves not only technical access, but also the practical usability for people with disabilities.

To navigate an online shop on their own, people with disabilities rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers or braille displays.

A screen reader reads on-screen content aloud and enables navigation via keyboard or gesture control, while the braille display renders the same content in braille. The condition for smooth use, however, is that digital products are built to be technically accessible, with a clear page structure, meaningfully marked-up headings and clearly labeled controls.

When websites and apps are designed with consistent attention to accessible content, clear structures and understandable controls, online shopping can offer blind people and people with visual impairments substantial benefits that go well beyond mere convenience.

While online shops are often just a convenient alternative to brick-and-mortar retail for sighted people, they open up an additional space for independence and autonomy for people with disabilities.

In shopping centers and supermarkets, blind people frequently depend on sighted companions to describe products, read out prices or guide them through stores. In an accessibly designed online shop, many of these hurdles disappear, so the entire shopping process, from product search to order, can be carried out independently.

Beyond easier access to information, online shopping also spares complicated trips through city centers, large malls or confusing stores. Since unfamiliar places, big crowds or poorly structured sales floors often pose an extra challenge for blind people, online shopping provides real everyday relief here too.

So although online shopping holds enormous potential for the inclusion and autonomy of people with disabilities, the reality unfortunately often looks different.

Despite the many advantages of online shopping, blind people often run into barriers that make the entire shopping process harder or even impossible. The cause is frequently a lack of awareness of accessible website and app development.

Even modern shop systems do not solve this challenge automatically. While many shop systems offer a technical basis for accessibility, themes, extensions, product content and individual customizations can create new barriers.

A shop may look modern and professional at first glance, yet still be hard or impossible for blind users to operate.

This is exactly why the usability of a web shop for users with disabilities shows that digital accessibility does not depend on the shop system alone, but on the concrete implementation in practice.

Here is an overview of the most common barriers:

Content and Functions That Cannot Be Reached

Blind people operate websites exclusively via keyboard or, on smartphones, via gesture control. Reliable keyboard operability and a logical keyboard navigation are therefore central requirements for an accessible online shop.

One of the most common barriers when navigating e-commerce platforms is that certain content cannot be reached with the keyboard or the screen reader.

It becomes particularly problematic when menus cannot be opened, filters cannot be reached or buttons are visible but not technically operable. Many elements also work only with a mouse or touch.

A frequent example in online shops is the product filter. Often a filter area can only be opened by mouse click or touch gesture, leaving it unusable with a keyboard or screen reader.

Non-Functional or Unlabeled Elements

Another frequent barrier is unlabeled buttons or controls. Buttons are often given icons such as a shopping bag or a heart for sighted people, without any additional label.

In such cases the screen reader merely announces “switch” or “button,” leaving blind users unclear about the function of the control. In some cases this can even mean that a central user flow, such as adding a product to the cart, is not possible.

Missing Structure and Orientation

A good structure is a core part of usability. For blind people it is especially important, because headings, lists, regions and clear navigation structures enable quick orientation within a page.

When these structures are missing, content often has to be worked through laboriously from start to finish, which makes navigation in large online shops with many products and functions unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming.

Information Provided Only as an Image

Many online shops rely heavily on visual content. This becomes a problem when important information is presented exclusively inside images with no text alternative.

This affects discounts, product information or sizing notes that are embedded only as a graphic or screenshot. Since screen readers cannot interpret images without a description, this information often stays completely hidden from blind people. Meaningful alt text and text alternatives are therefore especially important, for instance on product images, size charts or promotional banners.

Missing Feedback on Actions

A frequently underestimated problem is the lack of feedback after actions. When a product is added to the cart or an item is added to the wishlist, blind users often receive no information about whether the action succeeded. This creates uncertainty and frequently leads to duplicate actions.

When the Checkout Becomes a Barrier

Such barriers become especially critical in the checkout. When required fields are not clearly labeled, error messages are not announced by the screen reader or payment processes cannot be fully operated by keyboard, a purchase can fail just before completion. Understandable forms and clear feedback are therefore a central part of digital accessibility in online retail.

Cookie Dialogs as an Access Barrier

Cookie dialogs can also become a hurdle when they cover the content on page load but cannot be operated sensibly via keyboard or screen reader. For blind users, this can mean they never even reach the online shop.

This is why it is not enough to consider accessibility just once or to rely solely on automated tools. Accessibility in e-commerce means more than a technical check. Accessibility audits help to identify technical barriers systematically. Just as important, however, is testing from the user perspective, because whether an accessible checkout, a filter or a cookie dialog is truly operable often only becomes clear in actual use.