Study: Visual aid retailers failing on accessibility

Category: Web Accessibility

October 10th 08, 08:33

A number of UK retailers of spectacles and other vision products are failing customers when it comes to website accessibility.

This is according to the latest accessibility study by Sitemorse for Retail Bulletin, which found that factory outlet Direct Specs was one of the worst performing websites in September.

The retailer failed to include any alt text for the images across its site, resulting in it receiving a score of 1.1 out of ten and placing at 91st out of a total of 100 e-commerce websites in a range of sectors.

Other spectacles vendors that could have done better included Dollond & Aitchison and Specsavers, according to Sitemorse.

However, Vision Express was held up as an example of how visual aid retailers should make their websites more accessible, with the company coming fourth in the overall table.

"If Direct Specs has thousands of failings and the site is unusable to visually impaired people - who must surely make up a fair amount of its customers - then Vision Express would be the place that you’d shop at because it has made a great effort with accessibility," said Sitemorse's Lawrence Shaw.

According to E-consultancy's 2008 Usability and Accessibility Buyer's Guide, the UK market for usability and accessibility services will expand by 20 per cent this year to reach an estimated value of more than £200 million.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.


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