The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions for brick and mortar businesses and e-commerce brands alike.
Withsupply chain interruptionsandadapting to remote teams, even e-commerce brands are undergoing a period of significant adjustments.
While we are better positioned for these changes than others, it is still a challenging time.
Unfortunately, the shift to online purchasing isnt just hurting select businesses.
It is also causing many individuals with disabilities to get left behind due to a lack of web accessibility.
What COVID-19 means for web accessibility
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Thats roughly 61 million people.
All of these disabilities can impact someones ability to use the internet.
Someone who is blind will depend on a screen reader to navigate a website.
Deaf individuals rely on closed captioning or transcripts for audiovisual content.
When physical retail is unavailable, this can quickly become problematic.
Web accessibility automation platform accessiBe recentlyevaluated 10,000,000 websitesto see if they met WCAG accessibility standards.
Of this large sample group, 98 percent had noncompliant menus.
89 percent had popups that interfered with basic access needs.
The majority of sites also had accessibility issues with forms, icons, buttons and images.
Even a seemingly minor issue could keep an individual with disabilities from being able to complete a purchase.
In some cases, this could cause individuals in high-risk groups to run out of food or medication.
Failure to enhance website accessibility leaves an already-vulnerable group in an even more difficult situation.
If you dont act, this could also lead to serious consequences for your e-commerce brand.
If your website has accessibility barriers, you could be losing money and not even be aware of it.
This is a major missed opportunity, especially for e-commerce stores selling items that are currently in high demand.
Courts in the United States are increasingly viewing web accessibility as an ADA issue.
Because of this, online stores need to start prioritizing web accessibility today.
