Millions of Dutch consumers experience inconvenience when shopping online. That is the group with a physical disability. Stores do not help them and therefore lose billions in turnover.
Thuiswinkel.org, Dutch Payments Association and digital agency Level Level charged for what that amount is: 4.2 billion euros.
A quarter of Dutch people have a disability and can only use easily digitally accessible websites. This corresponds to roughly 4.5 million people. The Click-Away Pound Survey also shows that 69% of people with disabilities cancel a purchase from an inaccessible webshop.
From June 2025 the European Accessibility Act (EAA) for all web shops in Europe. That’s a law. For Dutch web shops, this means that they will have to take steps in the near future to become accessible to all customers, including Dutch people who use tools such as screen readers, braille displays or adapted mice and keyboards.
Despite this approaching deadline, an analysis of more than 300 Dutch websites shows that almost no webshop fully complies with the future guidelines for digital accessibility.
It is not yet clear which authorities in the Netherlands will be charged with enforcing the EEA. The exception are financially oriented services. The AFM will monitor digital accessibility there.
Last week, Germany’s Eye-Able announced that it had raised twenty million in venture capital to further roll out its digital accessibility testing software across Europe. This software automates the testing and reporting that until now was predominantly done by hand.
Photo: S. Tsuchiya, Unsplash
Source: www.emerce.nl
