Last week, we took a look at the ultimate hype topic: artificial intelligence (AI) and how it will be applied in the e-commerce sector. But the supposedly boring topics are just as important! This week, we are taking an in-depth look at another trend for 2025: accessibility. For over 15 years, Comsysto Reply has been implementing complex e-commerce solutions for clients across all industries. At the same time, we track and analyze relevant trends in our e-commerce lab to ensure we are ready for tomorrow's challenges today. We share our insights here—every Tuesday!
Fresh from the news: Things are looking up in Germany—yes, really!
Despite the generally very cautious forecasts for the German economy, we finally expect growth in online retail again in 2025. The president of the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh) Gero Furchheim sees e-commerce "back in the black, even though the poor consumer sentiment in Germany persists" and expects "strengthened medium-term growth" (Süddeutsche Zeitung) for the coming years.
This growth is being driven in particular by online marketplaces, but more on that next time. Today's edition is all about accessibility.
Accessibility—why now?
June 28, 2025, is the most important deadline of the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which was passed in 2021. This makes it clear: now is the time to finally tackle this issue for your own online shop. Once this date has passed, users will be entitled to file complaints with official bodies—and significant fines could follow.
What standards actually need to be followed?
In the European Union, various country-specific standards must be observed; in Germany, the Accessibility Strengthening Act (Federal Specialist Office for Accessibility) regulates the requirements. In principle, most of these laws are based on the WCAG 2.1 standard (W3C). The extended version WCAG 2.2 (W3C) adds 9 further success criteria to its predecessor, such as improved navigability (W3C). While these additions are likely not immediately binding from June 2025, it is worth considering the current version right away—it is fully backward compatible and therefore definitely also meets WCAG 2.1.
Are we prepared for this?
Some are, others less so... The fact that there is generally still a need for action here was examined in a study by Aktion Mensch e.V., for example. Only 21% of the online shops examined could be operated solely via keyboard and thus without a mouse. (Aktion Mensch e.V.)
Anyone using the web frontend of a modern e-commerce solution is in a good position, as these are usually already compliant with the WCAG 2.1 standard (e.g. Shopify or Shopware). But even with professionally developed custom solutions, nasty surprises are rarely to be expected. Accessibility has been considered an essential non-functional requirement for every frontend for years. It becomes difficult primarily for operators of highly outdated systems. A closer look is definitely worthwhile here.
SEO - the more popular friend of accessibility
And this is about much more than just compliance and accessibility! In general, the motto is: what can be easily understood by everyone is also easily understood by search engines and is therefore naturally beneficial for page ranking on Google & Co. (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität)
Just how strong this influence actually is remains a subject of debate. Among others, in this frequently cited video from Google Search Central with John Mueller shares various in-depth insights. One thing is clear: investing in a well-structured and therefore readable web frontend pays off on more than just one front.
Website accessibility at a glance
The good news for anyone unsure about the accessibility of their current online shop: the first steps are incredibly simple. Often, Google Lighthouse is perfectly sufficient to get an initial impression. And for a more thorough analysis, there are more specialized tools such as Axe.
For those who want to dive deeper from a technical perspective, you can find more in our engineering blog post by Norman Steger.
That’s it for today – and here’s what’s next
We are still only scratching the surface here, but it is already clear that accessibility is a topic we won't be able to ignore in 2025. A little extra motivation: it doesn't just benefit people who rely on accessibility features—it also helps users with situational limitations, such as those in noisy environments or those lacking input options. And that is definitely good for conversion…
Still want to learn more? A great starting point is the “BFSG 2025 E-Commerce” webinar series from the Federal Specialist Office for Accessibility. We’ll continue next week with the next trend for 2025: marketplaces and the opportunities created by integrating partners into your own e-commerce landscape.
See you next week!
Christian & the Comsysto Reply e-Commerce Lab