By Sanjay Sarathy, VP developer experience and self-service, Cloudinary
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) officially came into force on 28 June 2025, requiring companies selling into the EU to ensure that their digital channels, including e-commerce platforms, websites, mobile apps, and online services, are accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. Accessibility covers content, code, interactions, and more. However, visual content poses a unique and often underestimated challenge.
There’s still time to act
The good news is that there is a grace period that gives retailers time to adapt. Products and services already on the market before the deadline can remain available until June 2030, even if they’re not yet fully compliant, provided they aren’t substantially modified. However, any new or significantly updated websites, apps, or digital services launched after the deadline must meet accessibility requirements immediately. For retailers, this means there’s still a window to make meaningful progress, especially for those that demonstrate intent, take early action, and build toward long-term compliance.
Avoiding fines shouldn’t be the only motivation for getting compliant. There’s a compelling business case for inclusivity. Globally, nearly 2 billion people live with disabilities, representing a market with over $8 trillion in spending power. When you include their friends and family, that figure grows to $13 trillion, according to the World Economic Forum. What was once seen as a niche audience is now a massive and valuable consumer base no retailer can afford to ignore.
Get to know “the POUR Framework”
Before you can dive into the actions, you need to understand the basics of EAA compliance. That should be your immediate starting point. The EAA follows a set of technical guidelines called WCAG 2.1 Level AA, which are made up of “Success Criteria” (SCs), rules that help ensure websites and apps are usable by people with disabilities.
You don’t need to memorise these rules all right away, but it’s helpful to know that they’re built around four key principles. According to those, your content should be “perceivable” (can people see or hear your content, regardless of how they access it?), “operable” (can people use it with a keyboard, screen reader, or other assistive technology?), “understandable” (is the content and navigation clear and predictable?) and “robust” (does it work reliably across different devices and tools?).
This framework (often shortened to POUR) is what accessibility is all about. The good news: many of these accessibility requirements are already linked to good UX design anyway. For example, unique and descriptive headings improve readability and comprehension; alt text is helpful when browsers can’t load images; and consistent navigation makes it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for. Retailers that have designed their website according to usability best practices, are likely more than halfway to compliance already.
Run an automated audit to identify main issues
Before diving deep into accomplishing any specific SC, retailers should run an automated audit of their digital properties. Tools like Axe DevTools, WAVE, or Lighthouse can give you a prioritised list of issues based on real-world impact and frequency.
Once you have that list, prioritise the issues to fix based on their severity and scope. The use of the WAI Quick Reference and Understanding WCAG documentation will help retailers to knock out as many critical Level AA issues. This approach ensures retailers are not guessing what to fix, but are indeed acting on data.
Hit some high-impact visual content fixes
If you’re short on time and need fast results, start by addressing a few of the most common visual accessibility issues. These problems consistently appear in large-scale accessibility audits, such as WebAIM’s annual “Million” report. Here is a brief overview of the three most frequently encountered accessibility issues.
The most common issue found on the web is text with poor colour contrast. This occurs when text blends into the background, making it hard to read for many users, especially those with visual impairments. To resolve this, retailers can use a contrast checker, such as the one provided by WebAIM, to ensure that all text meets the minimum required contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1.
The second most common issue is missing alt text on images. Adding alt text makes websites more accessible to users who rely on screen readers, use speech input, or browse with images turned off due to slow internet connections. Alt text offers a short description of an image so users can still understand its purpose even if they cannot see it.
Fortunately, adding alt text can be streamlined using AI-powered tools like Cloudinary. These tools use large language models to analyse the image and automatically generate accurate, meaningful alt text. They can also be used to create subtitles for videos, generate captions for live streams, and customise subtitle styles based on user preferences. In addition, they can automate the production of transcripts for audio content, which is another important accessibility best practice. Implementing these solutions also helps address the fourth most common accessibility issue: empty links or buttons, which often result from missing text or alt attributes on linked images.
The third most common issue is missing form labels. A form label is an HTML element that tells users what each input field is for. Proper labels are essential because they allow users of assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to understand what information to enter in each field. During an accessibility audit, retailers can identify whether any form labels are missing or incomplete. In platforms like WordPress, using semantic label tags or aria-label attributes ensures that each input field is clearly and properly identified.
Note: While these may be “quick wins” for some retailers, for others, especially those with legacy systems or complex platforms, they may represent heavier lifts. Your mileage may vary.
Build toward longer-term solutions
After completing your initial audit and addressing immediate issues, it’s time to think long-term. If you’re part of a larger organisation with available resources, consider engaging an accessibility consultancy. They can perform a comprehensive manual audit and help develop a long-term remediation strategy tailored to your business.
For smaller teams, a do-it-yourself approach is entirely possible. Use the full WCAG 2.1 Level AA checklist and manually test your site using tools like keyboard-only navigation and screen readers to uncover accessibility gaps.
As your accessibility efforts begin to stabilise, start documenting your process. Train your product, design, and development teams to incorporate accessibility from the very beginning of each project, commonly referred to as “shifting left.” Finally, be sure to integrate accessibility checks into your quality assurance and release cycles to ensure it becomes a consistent, ongoing practice.
Accessibility isn’t a deadline, but a direction
Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining what you’ve already built, all progress is good progress. The faster you get going, the better your chances are to mitigate fines and legal risks. More importantly, you’ll be opening your doors to a wider range of customers and creating a lasting competitive advantage through inclusive design.
