In Finland, over a million people benefit from accessible services. For online stores, accessible content represents a significant competitive advantage, and rapid change is now key. So what should online retailers do now?

The accessibility and inclusivity of services are crucial to ensure equal opportunities for individuals to participate in society. The EU aims to harmonise accessibility legislation across member states through the Accessibility Directive. In Finland, the directive is incorporated into several laws, and changes will begin to apply from 28th June 2025.

This article focuses on the directive insofar as it affects online stores.

By preparing for changes in a timely manner, you can spread costs over several years while enjoying the benefits of accessibility, such as satisfied customers and improved search engine visibility.

Accessible content is a significant competitive advantage for online stores and enhances Google visibility

The directive is important because over a million people in Finland benefit from accessible services. From an online retailer's perspective, this group includes thousands of potential customers. 

Experts involved in the preparation of Finland's legal amendments emphasise that accessibility can be a significant competitive advantage for online stores. By investing in accessibility, an online store can reach new customer groups. 

An accessible online store also ranks better in Google's search results.

Additionally, accessibility makes online services easier for everyone to use, increasing the likelihood that customers will return, leading to a successful online store.

Read how to improve your website's technical quality in Google's eyes.

The accessibility of online stores is still in its early stages

Currently, the overall international situation of online store accessibility is poor. This conclusion was reached by WebAIM, which evaluated the accessibility of a million different online services, focusing on accessibility.

In the 2021 assessment, sites in the shopping category received the second worst results. Only adult entertainment sites ranked worse. The positive news is that this year's results are still better than last year's results.

No comprehensive research has been done on the subject in Finland yet, but the situation is likely similar.

I reviewed five online stores favoured by Finns. Although the sample is small, the results align with international research findings. 

Only in two of the online stores I examined was there any indication that attention had been paid to accessibility, and the testing tools I used did not find many errors on these online stores' homepages.

Other observations were:

• None had content or an accessibility statement about accessibility.

• In 3/5 of the online stores, images lacked text alternatives, and there were deficiencies in text contrasts.

• Using the site with only a keyboard was sometimes difficult.

• Closing the cookie notification with a keyboard was often challenging, and using the navigation was either impossible or challenging.

For comparison, I also tested IKEA's site. The site featured an accessibility page indicating that the service meets the WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility level. This criterion corresponds largely to the requirements of Finland's Digital Service Act. Closing the cookie notification was easy, and navigation was possible with the keyboard. The testing tools found a few errors, but based on code inspection, these instances seemed deliberate and likely do not cause usability issues.

International online stores are likely investing more in accessibility to comply with laws in different countries and to reach larger audiences.

If Finnish online stores do not keep up with this development, they may lose customers to international companies. Therefore, legislative change is not the only reason for promoting accessibility in online stores.

The Accessibility Directive has brought extensive legislative changes

The Act on the Provision of Digital Services has mainly applied to the public sector so far. With the changes, the scope of the digital service law will extend to online store services as well. An online store service refers to a digital service where remote sales agreements can be made. They must meet the current accessibility requirements of the law and additional requirements from the directive.

Parliament also approved a new Act on the Accessibility Requirements of Certain Products. The law brings accessibility requirements, for example, to electronic reading devices and devices with data processing capabilities. It is the responsibility of the product manufacturer, importer, and distributor to ensure the product meets the requirements and includes the necessary markings.

These legislative changes do not apply to micro-enterprises. A micro-enterprise is defined as a company with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of no more than 2 million euros.

Changes always result in additional costs, but the sooner you act, the better you can stand out from the competition.

The costs of online store accessibility can be spread over several years

In the legislative proposal, it was estimated that the average costs of accessibility auditing and modifications for a single online store are between 30,000 and 200,000 euros.

The costs depend not only on the size of the online store but also on how accessible it already is. Additionally, they can be spread over a long period, taking into account developments that are happening anyway.

Once an online store is made accessible, maintenance costs arise, for example, from regular audits, staff training, and/or purchasing expert services as a service.

Operators interviewed for the legislative proposal estimate that the requirements of the Accessibility Directive bring about 5-10 percent additional costs to the company's annual development work.

What should online retailers do now?

Make use of restructuring. If you are planning significant changes to your online store in the coming years, the major accessibility works should be done in conjunction with those changes. When accessibility is considered from the beginning of the features, the result is cheaper and better.

Accessibility audit. Otherwise, the best way to start is by conducting a current situation assessment of your online store, i.e., an accessibility audit. You can order it from us at Crasman, for example.

Accessibility as a quality criterion. If you are ordering or have ordered the implementation and further development of an online store as a commissioned work, include accessibility as part of the job quality criteria.

Content production. Also ensure that accessibility is considered in the content production of your online store. For example, images must have descriptive text alternatives added so that their meaning and content are also available to screen reader users. PDFs shared on the online service must also be accessible.

Ensuring competence. If the maintenance of the online store is done within the company, it is important to ensure sufficient competence among employees. There are many different training courses on general accessibility. You can find short inductions and other information, for example, on the website maintained by the Regional State Administrative Agency.

Fortunately, there is still time. The legislative changes brought about by the new directive will be applied from 28th June 2025, and the transition period ends on 28th June 2030. 

Contact us, and we will help you make your online service accessible.

Read more: Accessibility benefits everyone – Is using your service pleasant or even possible?

Check the training: Accessibility - From Initial Push to Regular Development Work 

This article was published on 9th March 2022 and updated on 2nd February 2023.