ADA Compliance for Online Stores

Why online stores dominate ADA lawsuit filings

If you sell anything online, your store sits in the crosshairs of ADA plaintiff attorneys more than almost any other type of website. Of the 3,948 ADA web accessibility lawsuits filed in federal court in 2025, fashion sites alone accounted for 25.96%, beauty for 8.03%, and furniture for 7.67%. Together that's more than 41% of filings against online retail categories. Restaurants (34.65%) top the list but most of those are also e-commerce cases once you count online ordering flows. That's not a coincidence. Online stores have characteristics that make them uniquely vulnerable to accessibility claims, and plaintiff firms have figured out how to exploit every one of them.

The math works in the plaintiff's favor. A typical online store has hundreds or thousands of product pages. Each product page usually has multiple images. If those images are missing alt text, every single one is a separate instance of the same WCAG violation. A store with 300 products and 3 images each could have 900 instances of missing alt text. Plaintiff attorneys use this volume to argue that the accessibility barriers are pervasive and systemic, not just an isolated oversight someone missed.

Then there's the transactional nature of e-commerce. When a screen reader user can't browse products, filter search results, or complete checkout, they're being denied the core service your business offers. Courts take this seriously. Unlike an informational website where a user might find the same content elsewhere, an online store is offering specific products for sale. If a disabled user can't buy what you're selling because your site is inaccessible, that's a clear case of discrimination under Title III.

The violations plaintiff attorneys find on online stores

ADA plaintiff firms don't browse your store manually. They run automated scanning tools across your product catalog and identify patterns. Here are the violations that show up most frequently in e-commerce lawsuits, ranked roughly by how often they're cited.

Product images without alt text

This is the single most common violation in e-commerce ADA cases. Every product image needs descriptive alt text that tells a screen reader user what the image shows. "Blue cotton crew neck t-shirt, front view" works. "IMG_4532.jpg" or an empty alt attribute does not. Product variant images (showing different colors, angles, or sizes) each need their own descriptive alt text too.

The Winn-Dixie case (Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, 2017) was one of the first major rulings establishing that websites are places of public accommodation under Title III. While not purely an e-commerce case, it set the precedent that online experiences must be accessible. Since then, thousands of retailers have been sued. In 2023 alone, e-commerce ADA lawsuits named companies including Target, Amazon third-party sellers, fashion retailers, and small Shopify stores with as few as 20 products.

Inaccessible product filtering and sorting

Most online stores let customers filter by size, color, price, brand, or category. These filter controls are frequently built as custom JavaScript widgets that don't work with keyboard navigation or screen readers. A sighted user clicks a checkbox or moves a price slider. A keyboard user can't reach the controls at all. A screen reader user doesn't even know the filters exist because the controls lack ARIA labels and roles.

Sorting controls have the same problem. Dropdown menus that expand on hover but don't respond to keyboard focus. Custom-styled select elements that override the browser's native behavior. Toggle buttons for grid vs. list view that have no accessible name. Each of these is a WCAG violation that plaintiff attorneys can point to.

Checkout form accessibility

Checkout is the highest-stakes part of your store from an accessibility perspective. If a customer navigated your products, added items to cart, and then hits an inaccessible checkout flow, you've demonstrated that the user can engage with your store up to the point of giving you money. That's a particularly bad look in court.

Common checkout violations include form fields without associated labels (screen readers announce "edit text" instead of "Email address"), error messages that appear visually but aren't announced to assistive technology, address autocomplete widgets that trap keyboard focus inside a dropdown, payment card fields embedded in iframes that screen readers can't navigate into, and multi-step checkout flows where progress indicators aren't accessible.

The Domino's Pizza case (Robles v. Domino's Pizza, 2019) went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear Domino's appeal. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the ADA applies to Domino's website and app, even though the DOJ hadn't issued specific web accessibility regulations. The plaintiff couldn't order pizza online because the site and app were inaccessible. That case cost Domino's years of litigation and set binding precedent for the entire Ninth Circuit.

Shopping cart and mini-cart issues

Shopping carts often use dynamic updates: you click "Add to cart" and the cart icon shows a badge with the item count, or a mini-cart drawer slides in from the side. These dynamic changes frequently aren't announced to screen readers. A blind user clicks "Add to cart," hears nothing, and has no way to know whether the action worked. The mini-cart drawer might overlay the page content but trap focus incorrectly, or it might not be reachable by keyboard at all.

Quantity adjusters (plus/minus buttons or input fields) in the cart are another common problem. Custom-styled number inputs that don't expose their value to assistive technology. Plus and minus buttons labeled as "+" and "-" without accessible names like "Increase quantity" and "Decrease quantity." Remove buttons that are just an "X" icon with no alt text.

Search functionality

Product search is a core navigation method for e-commerce sites, and it's frequently inaccessible. Autocomplete suggestions that appear in a dropdown but aren't navigable by keyboard. Search results that update dynamically without notifying screen readers. "No results found" messages that appear visually but aren't announced. Search filters that appear after results load but aren't reachable in the tab order.

Real e-commerce ADA lawsuits and what they cost

The list of retailers that have faced ADA web accessibility lawsuits reads like a directory of American commerce. Some of the notable cases illustrate the scope and financial impact.

Target (National Federation of the Blind v. Target, 2006-2008) was one of the earliest major web accessibility cases. Target settled for $6 million and agreed to make its website accessible. This was a class action, but it opened the door for individual claims against smaller retailers.

Nike faced multiple lawsuits over its website and app accessibility. The complaints cited missing alt text on product images, inaccessible navigation, and form fields without labels. Nike eventually committed to comprehensive remediation.

Blue Apron was sued in 2017 after a visually impaired customer couldn't navigate the meal kit service's website using a screen reader. The case highlighted how subscription-based e-commerce models compound accessibility issues because the user interaction is ongoing, not one-time.

But the cases that should worry you aren't the big names. They're the thousands of small and mid-size online stores that receive demand letters every year. A Shopify store selling handmade jewelry. A WooCommerce site selling auto parts. A BigCommerce store selling pet supplies. These businesses typically settle for $5,000 to $15,000 because fighting costs more than paying. And because their product images lack alt text, their checkout forms lack labels, and their filter controls don't work with keyboards, the claims have merit.

Platform-specific accessibility issues

Shopify stores

Shopify's default Dawn theme is relatively accessible out of the box, but most store owners customize heavily or use third-party themes. Common Shopify accessibility problems include product image galleries that use JavaScript carousels without keyboard support, quick-view modals that don't manage focus correctly, third-party review apps (like Judge.me or Loox) that inject inaccessible widgets, variant selectors (color swatches, size buttons) that are custom elements without ARIA roles, and Shopify apps that add popup notifications, countdown timers, or sticky bars without accessibility consideration.

Shopify doesn't audit third-party apps for accessibility. That means every app you install is a potential source of WCAG violations, and you're responsible for them because they appear on your domain.

WooCommerce stores

WooCommerce sits on top of WordPress, which means your accessibility depends on three layers: WordPress core (generally good), your theme (varies wildly), and your plugins (often problematic). WooCommerce itself has improved its ARIA markup and keyboard navigation over time, but the product gallery, variation selectors, and cart update mechanisms still cause issues in many theme combinations.

WordPress page builders like Elementor and WPBakery can introduce accessibility problems when they generate complex HTML structures that don't follow semantic markup patterns. If you built your product pages with a page builder, the resulting HTML might look fine visually but be completely confusing to a screen reader.

Custom-built stores

If your store is custom-built (React, Next.js, headless commerce, etc.), accessibility depends entirely on your development team's awareness. Single-page applications are particularly prone to accessibility issues because route changes aren't announced to screen readers, dynamic content updates aren't communicated, and focus management during navigation is often overlooked. Custom-built stores tend to have the most severe accessibility issues but also the most straightforward remediation path because you control all the code.

How to fix your store's accessibility issues

Start with product images

This is the highest-impact fix for most stores. Go through your product catalog and add descriptive alt text to every image. Describe what the image shows: the product, its color, its style, the angle. Don't stuff keywords. Don't use the product name alone if the image shows specific details. If you have hundreds of products, prioritize your best sellers and work through the catalog systematically. Some platforms let you bulk-edit alt text through CSV import.

Fix your checkout flow

Navigate your checkout using only a keyboard (Tab, Enter, Space, arrow keys). Can you complete a purchase without touching a mouse? If not, that's what needs fixing. Ensure every form field has a visible label and a programmatic label (the HTML label element associated with the input). Make sure error messages are announced to screen readers using ARIA live regions. Test address autocomplete with keyboard navigation. If you use an embedded payment form (Stripe Elements, PayPal buttons), test those for keyboard access too.

Make filters and sorting accessible

Filter controls need to be keyboard-operable. Checkboxes should be real checkboxes (or have the checkbox ARIA role). Price sliders need keyboard alternatives (input fields). Filter groups should use fieldset and legend elements. When filters are applied and results update, announce the change to screen readers using an ARIA live region ("Showing 24 of 156 products").

Set up ongoing monitoring

E-commerce sites change constantly. New products, seasonal promotions, app updates, theme changes. Each of these can introduce new accessibility violations. A product uploaded without alt text. A new app that adds an inaccessible popup. A theme update that breaks keyboard navigation. Continuous monitoring catches these regressions before a plaintiff attorney does.

Frequently asked questions

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