Shopping Sites Average 71 Accessibility Errors

A 2026 WebAIM study finds online retail homepages carry more accessibility problems than the average website.

Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Retail

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of a shopping cart beside a cracked stacked steel shipping container, in deep red, cream, and black. — Online shopping homepages averaged 71 accessibility errors in a 2026 WebAIM study, about 27 percent more than the typical website, with e-commerce drawing roughly 80 percent of accessibility lawsuits. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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A 2026 WebAIM study found shopping websites averaged 71 accessibility errors per homepage, roughly 27% more than the average website. Only sports websites performed worse among the categories examined.

Why it matters

Accessibility barriers can prevent shoppers with disabilities from completing purchases, and roughly 80% of website accessibility lawsuits filed in 2026 have targeted e-commerce businesses. The findings highlight a gap between online retail and the large population of U.S. adults with disabilities.

Shopify-powered home pages averaged 75 accessibility errors and Magento sites averaged nearly 76, both above the 56-error average across all scanned home pages. Roughly 1 in 4 U.S. adults have a disability, according to the CDC.

The details

Automated scanning found unlabeled product photos and buttons that screen readers may announce without meaningful descriptions, and missing checkout labels can leave screen reader users unable to tell where to enter card or ZIP code information. Low-contrast text can make prices, promotions and return policies hard to read for older shoppers or people with low vision.

2025 served as the baseline year for WebAIM's reported 10% increase in accessibility errors.
2026 scan found accessibility errors on 96% of home pages.
Adobe forecasts $275.1 billion in U.S. online sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2026.
Retailers are urged to check accessibility problems before the Black Friday 2026 rush.

Industry Landscape

WebAIM's annual scan of the top one million home pages has tracked a 10% rise in accessibility errors from 2025 to 2026. The shopping category's 71-error average shows e-commerce lagging behind most other site types in that series.

Shoppers who rely on screen readers or have low vision may struggle to complete purchases on sites with unlabeled buttons or low-contrast prices. Those shopping during the holiday period may encounter these barriers at checkout.

The takeaway

Shoppers can test checkout flows with a screen reader or zoom text to spot barriers before buying. Retailers can prioritize labeling checkout fields and improving text contrast as a practical first step.