Website accessibility for online retailers is crucial because it ensures compliance with legal requirements, opens new markets and customer segments, improves the user experience for all customers, and enhances the brand’s reputation. In today’s digital age, accessibility is not just a moral obligation but also a business imperative that retailers cannot ignore. If you run an online home furnishings retail store, we have provided tips on making your home furnishings retail website more accessible. By following the guidelines set out by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as you start on the journey to making your online home furnishings store more accessible to people with disabilities:
- Prioritize keyboard navigation accessibility to ensure all customers, including those with disabilities, access their products and services equally.
- Use clear and concise language and meaningful and descriptive labels for all content.
- Provide alternative text for all images, videos, and other non-text content. The alternative text will help people who are blind or have low vision who use screen readers to access your digital product offerings and content.
- Use high-contrast color schemes to help individuals with visual impairments or color blindness more easily navigate and use the website.
- Make sure that people who are deaf or have hearing impairments can access videos with closed captions. Closed captions provide a text-based alternative to the audio, enabling viewers to follow the content even if they cannot hear it.
- Ensure all forms are accessible, including providing clear and concise instructions and labeling all form fields.
- Test your store website for accessibility using automated and manual methods and address any identified issues. Use a robust audit tool to assess your WCAG compliance levels and guidance on how to remedy any barriers to accessibility.
- Consider implementing AI technologies that can enhance accessibility, such as speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning.
- Stay up-to-date with the latest accessibility guidelines and best practices, and continuously work to improve the website’s accessibility for all users.
Implementing these tips for website accessibility for online retailers without much technical know-how is possible, but modifications will require an accessibility expert; for a website that meets WCAG’s success criteria for accessibility and ADA compliance, a blend of AI and human expertise will be required. Your online retail store will benefit when humans and AI work in tandem.
UserWay: Leading the AI Accessibility Revolution
With the growing importance of web accessibility, AI-powered technologies have emerged as a powerful tool for retailers to enhance the online shopping experience for all customers, including those with disabilities. UserWay’s AI-powered digital Accessibility Widget is a tool that combines market-leading tech with human expertise, helping online retailers improve web accessibility for all users. The widget uses artificial intelligence to identify accessibility issues on a website and provides solutions to fix them in real-time. It provides various features, such as compatibility with screen reader and keyboard navigation, high contrast mode, and adjustable font sizes.
The widget can be easily installed on any website, allowing retailers to quickly and efficiently make their websites more compliant and accessible for customers.
With the increasing importance of web accessibility in online retail, UserWay’s AI-powered digital Accessibility Widget can help retailers stay ahead of the curve and provide an inclusive shopping experience.
