EAA Compliance Dashboard — 41 Brands × 6 Criteria
Assessed across 6 WCAG 2.1 AA criteria. Government sites shown as compliance benchmark — they have been legally required to comply since 2020. Commercial ecommerce sites subject to EAA from June 2025. Source methodology: eaa-monitor.nl + manual WCAG assessment.
| Brand | Country | Category | Decl. | Keyboard | Screen Reader | Alt Text | Checkout | Mobile | Score | Status |
|---|
Key finding: Government websites (mandatory since 2020) score an average of 4.2/6. Commercial ecommerce sites score an average of 1.9/6. The gap is structural: government procurement demands accessibility from vendors; commercial digital teams rarely have it in their sprint planning. Of 35 commercial sites assessed, only 5 (14%) are fully compliant with the EAA one year after the enforcement deadline.
Compliance Rate by Category
Share of brands per category by compliance status. Government sites shown as the mandatory benchmark. Each bar = 100% of brands in that category.
Luxury and Fashion are the worst performers — visually rich, interaction-heavy sites are hardest to make accessible, but brands in these categories have both the margin to invest and the most to lose from legal non-compliance given their high average basket values. Electronics and Supermarkets (especially Netherlands-based retailers) lead commercial compliance — likely driven by existing digital maturity and public scrutiny in markets where consumer protection enforcement is stricter.
Government vs Commercial: The Compliance Gap
Public sector websites have been legally required to meet WCAG 2.1 AA since September 2020 (EU Web Accessibility Directive). Commercial sites joined the obligation in June 2025. This 5-year head start shows.
Government Sites — Average Score per Criterion
% of assessed government sites meeting each criterion
Commercial Ecommerce — Average Score per Criterion
% of assessed commercial sites meeting each criterion
The criterion with the sharpest gap is Accessibility Declaration: 100% of government sites publish one (it is mandatory); only 34% of commercial sites do. This is the easiest win — a declaration can be written and published in days. The criterion where commercial ecommerce performs best relative to government is Mobile — ecommerce teams have invested heavily in mobile UX, which overlaps with accessibility requirements.
The Conversion Opportunity — Why Accessibility Pays
Accessibility is framed as a compliance obligation. It is also a commercial lever. The data on what inaccessible sites cost in lost revenue is rarely discussed in ecommerce boardrooms — but it should be.
135M
EU consumers with a disability
26% of European adults experience some form of disability affecting how they use digital services — visual, motor, cognitive, or hearing. This is not a niche audience.
€274B
Annual EU disability spending power
The “purple pound” equivalent across the EU. Studies consistently show disabled consumers and their households spend significantly more on online shopping as physical access is harder.
71%
Disabled users who leave inaccessible sites immediately
Click Away Pound / WebAIM research: 71% of users with accessibility needs leave a site they find difficult to use and go to a competitor. Most never return.
+15%
Conversion uplift from WCAG compliance
Baymard Institute & Nielsen Norman Group: fixing accessibility issues improves conversion rates for all users by 12–18%. Better contrast, clearer forms, and keyboard navigation benefit everyone — not just users with disabilities.
4×
More likely to buy from accessible sites
Disabled consumers who find a retailer’s site accessible are 4× more likely to make a purchase and show significantly higher brand loyalty. Accessibility creates a segment that compound.
€50k+
Potential EAA enforcement fine per violation
EU member states are implementing enforcement regimes. Dutch, German, and Belgian regulators have signalled active monitoring. Each non-compliant journey step can be a separate violation. The legal exposure is real.
The business case is simple: A fashion retailer with €200M annual online revenue, 2.5% baseline conversion, and 4% of traffic from users with accessibility needs who currently bounce at 71% — a full WCAG compliance programme recovers approximately €1.2M in previously lost revenue annually, before the additional 12–15% conversion uplift for all users is applied. For most mid-size European ecommerce players, the ROI on a WCAG compliance programme is measured in months, not years.
What Good Looks Like — 3 Compliance Leaders
Three commercial organisations that have turned accessibility into competitive advantage, not just a checkbox exercise.
Coolblue (NL) — Electronics
Score: 6/6 · Fully Compliant
Coolblue publishes a detailed accessibility declaration, runs quarterly WCAG audits, and has a dedicated accessibility owner in their product team. Their checkout is keyboard-navigable end-to-end. They have publicly stated their accessibility programme improved checkout completion by 11% for all users — not just those with disabilities. Accessibility is framed internally as a product quality standard, not a legal obligation.
Next (UK) — Fashion
Score: 6/6 · Fully Compliant
Next is the only major European fashion retailer to achieve full WCAG 2.1 AA across its website and app. Their accessibility programme started in 2019 ahead of legislation, driven by their older core demographic. Product images have structured alt text generated via AI. Forms include inline error guidance. Their approach has become a case study for how heritage fashion brands can modernise without sacrificing aesthetic.
Albert Heijn (NL) — Supermarket
Score: 6/6 · Fully Compliant
AH’s online grocery platform (ah.nl + app) achieves full compliance driven partly by the needs of their core shopping demographic — families including elderly shoppers. Their screen reader support covers the full product discovery and checkout journey. AH has integrated accessibility testing into their CI/CD pipeline, meaning new features are checked before deployment rather than remediated after. This development-stage approach costs a fraction of post-launch remediation.
Country Compliance Patterns — Where Is EAA Enforcement Strongest?
EAA is EU law but enforcement is delegated to national regulators. The maturity of national digital accessibility monitoring varies significantly across member states.
The Netherlands leads commercial EAA readiness — driven by active monitoring from Logius and the long-running eaa-monitor.nl which has been publicly tracking NL webshop compliance since the EAA came into force. Germany and France lag on commercial compliance despite having some of Europe’s largest ecommerce markets — enforcement bodies in both countries are expected to increase scrutiny through 2026. Spain and Italy have the weakest commercial compliance profiles despite both hosting major international fashion and luxury brands.
Methodology & Data Sources
This tracker assesses each brand across 6 WCAG 2.1 AA criteria: (1) Accessibility Declaration Published, (2) Keyboard Navigation, (3) Screen Reader Compatibility, (4) Product Image Alt Text, (5) Checkout Form Accessibility, (6) Mobile Touch Target & Zoom Compliance. Each criterion is rated Advanced (A) = fully implemented, Basic (B) = partial or limited implementation, or Gap = absent.
Primary source for Netherlands webshop declaration monitoring: eaa-monitor.nl — operated by Proper Access, a Dutch digital accessibility specialist. The eaa-monitor.nl dashboard runs automated weekly scans of Dutch webshop footers to detect published accessibility declarations. Their important caveat applies here too: the presence of a declaration does not confirm actual compliance — it reflects organisational awareness. Manual WCAG testing is required for full assessment.
Additional sources: WCAG 2.1 audits via WAVE and axe DevTools automated scanners, brand annual reports and sustainability statements, European Disability Forum (EDF) research 2024, WebAIM Million Report 2025, Baymard Institute checkout research, Nielsen Norman Group accessibility conversion data. Scores represent analyst estimates based on publicly observable site behaviour as of Q1 2026.
Available for
EAA compliance programme design, WCAG implementation leadership, and digital accessibility strategy for European ecommerce. From audit to fully compliant checkout — with the conversion case built in from the start.