What if I told you there’s a good chance your website is turning away a segment of the population that spends $1.9 trillion annually? I bet that would get your CEO’s attention. The world’s largest minority market is people with disabilities: 1.3 billion people, according to the World Health Organization. Add in that segment’s friends and family members who prefer to do business with brands that don’t shut out their loved ones, and you have an additional 3.3 billion people that want to work with brands that prioritize accessibility. Accessibility also means better experiences for all customers (known as the curb-cut effect), as it leads to better usability and helps anyone who is experiencing a temporary or situational disability.

This graphic shows a globe to emphasize that the entire global population (8.1 billion) benefits when experiences are accessible. When adding together people with disabilities (1.3 billion), the aging population (760 million), friends and family of those with a disability (3.3 billion), and everyone else (2.8 billion) who benefits due to the curb-cut effect, you get to the entire global population!

 

The business benefits of digital accessibility are real — and significant: Think sales, compliance, and risk mitigation. Governments around the world are increasingly requiring that retailers — and others — create accessible experiences. For example, if you sell products in the EU, by June 2025, your organization must comply with the requirements of the European Accessibility Act that’s less than a year from now. Accessibility also helps retailers avoid lawsuits — 82% of the top 500 e-commerce retailers have received a lawsuit in the last four years. If you’re one of the 96% of websites that are not accessible, according to a recent WebAIM study, you need to get to work now.

Good news: There’s a blueprint for creating accessible experiences. There’s still time to make sure that you’re not missing out on sales this holiday season while also taking the necessary steps to establish and scale accessibility best practices. Use this calm before the holiday shopping storm to do three things.

1. Immediately: Understand Where You Stand

Make a list of the most critical task flows that your digital channels support, such as browsing products or checking out. Run the pages associated with these task flows and any other highly trafficked pages on your site through an accessibility testing tool. If your organization has a digital accessibility platform, that’s great; if not, use free tools such as the axeDevTools Chrome extension to identify quick-win accessibility issues such as product images missing alt text, poor color contrast, and headings that aren’t properly tagged as headings in the code. Tab through your site and make sure that you can access all the navigational menus with the keyboard — something that’s critical for shoppers with upper mobility challenges and shoppers who use assistive technologies such as screen readers.

2. This Month: Address Critical Barriers And Implement Best Practices

Work with your digital product teams to prioritize the issues you identify through your testing. Allocate time to address these issues as soon as possible before the holiday rush. In parallel, begin enabling teams to create accessible experiences from the start. For example:

  • Create a short list of accessibility guidelines for content creators so that any new content that is added to the site is accessible. Include things like inclusive language best practices and guidance on how to write great alt text. Challenge them to write product descriptions that are descriptive enough that shoppers who can’t see product images have all the details they need to make a purchase decision.
  • If your design team uses Figma, check that they are taking advantage of free plugins like Stark, Adee, and Include to test designs for color contrast and other design-related accessibility issues, as well as to annotate designs with accessibility guidance for developers. Share examples from retailers getting accessibility right to clarify what “good” looks like.
  • Teach developers how to test their code for common accessibility barriers using tools such as the axe DevTools Chrome extension.

3. For 2025: Commit To Establishing (Or Expanding) Your Accessibility Program

Now that you’ve plugged the holes in your experiences, get your organization on course to take a more thoughtful approach to accessibility in the future. This includes the following:

  • Make the business case for accessibility so that both leadership and all employees understand why it’s imperative for the organization to create accessible experiences.
  • Create your accessibility policy, which includes what you’re committing to. For most organizations, that’s conforming with the WCAG level AA guidelines and/or the European standard, EN 301 549.
  • Engage a third-party accessibility vendor for support with auditing, training, and tooling for teams.
  • Adopt inclusive design practices to ensure that you’re considering accessibility from the start.
  • Partner with your procurement department about how you’ll address accessibility when procuring technology and services.

If you have questions about digital accessibility or would like to work through how to implement these practices in your company, set up a conversation with me. You can also follow or connect with me on LinkedIn to stay up to date on our research.