What are the most common e-commerce accessibility issues?
Updated March 8, 2026 4 min read
WebAIM’s annual million-page crawl finds 96.3% of homepages have detectable WCAG failures. The top five issues are low color contrast, missing alt text, missing form labels, empty links, and missing document language — all fixable in days with proper prioritization.
The most common accessibility failures by frequency
Based on WebAIM’s Million (2024 report) and Baymard Institute’s accessibility research specific to e-commerce:
1. Low color contrast text (83% of pages) The most prevalent and underappreciated issue. Brand colors chosen for aesthetics frequently fail WCAG 4.5:1 contrast requirements for body text. Sale price tags in red, placeholder text in light grey, white text on medium-tone colored buttons — these affect every user in challenging viewing conditions, not only those with visual impairments.
2. Missing alternative text (55% of pages) Product images, promotional banners, and icon-only buttons without descriptive alt text exclude screen reader users from the core shopping experience. Missing alt text also deprives search engines of product content, affecting organic rankings.
3. Missing form input labels (50% of pages)
Checkout forms, newsletter signups, and search fields without proper <label> associations fail screen reader users entirely. These users can’t determine the purpose of an input field without an associated label. Placeholder text is not a substitute.
4. Empty links (45% of pages) Links with no text content — icon links without aria-labels, linked product images without alt text, “read more” links that don’t describe what they lead to. Screen readers announce these as “link” with no destination description, giving users no navigational context.
5. Missing document language (<html lang> attribute) (28% of pages)
Without a language declaration, screen readers guess which language pronunciation rules to apply. Getting it wrong makes the entire site difficult to understand for screen reader users. This is a one-line fix.
E-commerce specific issues beyond the baseline
Inaccessible size and variant selectors. Custom-built variant pickers (size buttons, color swatches) that are implemented as styled <div> or <span> elements instead of form controls have no keyboard support and no screen reader context. A keyboard user can’t select a product size, which means they can’t add to cart.
Broken keyboard navigation in checkout. Tab order that jumps unpredictably, focus that disappears into third-party payment iframes without returning, and modals that don’t trap focus — these issues are nearly universal in custom checkout implementations.
Inaccessible carousels and sliders. Homepage hero sliders and product image galleries built without keyboard controls, without play/pause for auto-advancing content, and without live region announcements for slide changes. Auto-advancing content without a pause mechanism fails WCAG 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide).
Missing skip navigation. Without a “skip to main content” link at the top of the page, keyboard and screen reader users must tab through your entire navigation on every page before reaching the content they want. This is significant for keyboard users with motor disabilities.
Inaccessible filter and sort systems. Category page filters built with JavaScript that update results without page reload need ARIA live regions to announce results updates to screen reader users. Without announcements, users don’t know the filter was applied.
Prioritizing fixes by impact
Not all accessibility issues have equal impact. Prioritize by user journey criticality:
Tier 1 (Critical — fix immediately):
- Checkout form accessibility (labels, errors, keyboard support)
- Add-to-cart and purchase action keyboard operability
- Color contrast on primary CTAs and navigation
Tier 2 (High — fix within 30 days):
- Product image alt text
- Navigation keyboard support and focus management
- Size/variant selector accessibility
Tier 3 (Medium — fix within 90 days):
- Filter and sort accessibility
- Homepage carousel keyboard support
- Content page structure and reading order
Tier 4 (Baseline — address in development workflow):
- Document language attribute
- Decorative image empty alt text
- ARIA landmark regions
How to find your specific issues
- Run the axe browser extension on your homepage, a product page, and your checkout — fix all critical and serious flagged issues first
- Navigate your entire checkout flow using only a keyboard (no mouse) — document every point of failure
- Enable VoiceOver (Mac) or NVDA (Windows) and attempt to complete a purchase — the experience gap will be immediately apparent
Most e-commerce stores have 15-40 unique accessibility issues that can be reduced to under 5 within a single sprint of focused developer work. A UX audit provides a complete prioritized remediation list with specific code-level recommendations.