Websites from retailers including Ryanair, British
Airways, Currys, Apple Computer and Amazon.co.uk all failed the
test. Though John Lewis, Marks and Spencer and Tesco also failed,
they were commended by Nomensa for showing particular consideration
of accessibility.
"These research findings show that anyone with serious physical
impairments, the visually impaired or even just people wearing
glasses to read would encounter difficulties and in many cases
would give up trying," said Simon Norris, managing director of
Nomensa.
"There are over 10 million disabled people in the UK, and I
believe that each one of those has a right to be able to buy a
Christmas present online for a friend or loved one this year," said
Norris.
One of the cornerstones of accessibility is the provision of
text descriptions for all images so that those using site-reading
software know what is in a picture. Only two of the top 30 sites,
those of Apple and John Lewis, provided that text for all
images.
"With the online retail market apparently so flush with success,
it is hard to believe that every single online retailer evaluated
during this research is actively throwing money away," said the
report. "There is only one conclusion that can be drawn from the
results of this report. Almost without exception, online retailers
are not taking web accessibility, customer experience or
profitability seriously."
Nomensa has calculated that if the same proportion of disabled
people shopped online as the general population, then £376 million
could be spent over this Christmas period by disabled online
shoppers.
The company tested the home page and the terms and conditions
page of each of the sites using some automated and some manual
tests. They tested the sites against the industry standard Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 1.0.
Those guidelines rate pages as single, double or triple A rated
for accessibility, or as failed. Only three pages tested received a
single A rating, and all the others failed. There was no site where
both tested pages received an A rating.
"Many of the corporations audited invest millions each year in
their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes," said
Norris. "I am calling on the boardrooms of these retailers to
really start to take their online responsibility just as
seriously."
To request the report, email info@nomensa.com
