Barrier -free shops have long been no uncommon – ramps at the entrance are now standard, and changing rooms are also larger and lighter. But what about online shops? In fact, from this Saturday, June 28, 2025, the accessory law (BFSG) applies to online retailers: inside in Germany.
Many retailers: however, still believe that the new requirements do not affect them, according to the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Shipping Trade EV (BEVH). According to Elisa Rudolph, the association’s judiciary, this is “a great mistake”. “Basically, the BFSG concerns all online retailers: inside; whether small or large, whether with your own web shop or on marketplaces and independently of the ranges offered,” she explains in a message.
In fact, this is unclear, because not only do these online shops have potentially avoiding billions in sales, their website could also be switched off. “If you do not make your digital offers accessible to access, there is a huge customer: internal potential,” warned accco consultant Anke Lenz last year after the publication of a study on the subject.
In Germany alone, these are over 13 million people or more than 15 percent of the population. This includes visual and hearing weaknesses as well as cognitive and motor restrictions that make navigating on the Internet and thus make e-commerce.
What does “barrier -free” mean?
The UN Convention on the Rights of Disabilities has developed a globally recognized standard, the so-called “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” (WCAG 2.1), with four basic principles that every barrier-free online shop should meet. These are:
- 1. Perception:
Most online shops – like most content on the Internet – assume that users: inside you can see; However, many of them have different visual impairments that make perception more difficult. The information and components of a website must therefore be presented in such a way that all users: inside can be perceived. So you can offer subtitles and alternative texts or listening options or should be compatible with common screen readers. - 2. Operability:
In addition, most online shops assume that their users can click on elements inside or simply operate them. However, the components of a website or navigation must be possible in different ways, for example via a keyboard or as a voice output. It is important for the latter not to rely on too many image file that can hardly be reproduced. - 3. Understandability:
Each online shop is obliged to understand its information in an understandable way and also to communicate error messages clearly. Anyone who has ever tried to navigate an automatically translated website will understand how difficult this can be. - 4. Robustness:
Website content must be robust enough to reliably be interpreted by a number of users: inside, such as assistive technologies.
A tip from the BEVH: “As a gross guide, the” 2 sensory principle “helps-all content on the website should be accessible via two senses. This means, for example, that a website must be operated by both mouse and by keyboard or that an image has an alternative text for the blind or that a video is equipped with subtitles for deaf. With this principle, around 80 percent of the accessibility problems are already solved. ”
What are the consequences for non-barrier-free online shops from Saturday?
The acccenture study almost a year ago showed that 90 percent of German websites were not yet barrier-free- including those of the fashion and textile industry. But the requirements should not be taken lightly: “Anyone who has not yet taken care of compliance with the BFSG must expect that this will sooner or later be legally punished, including the associated costs,” warns the BEVH.
In the worst case, market monitoring can even block a website; A “market surveillance site of the countries for the accessibility of products and services” (MLBF) was specially built as a new institution under public law and will start work from Saturday.
The BEVH appeals to the authority to “pay attention to the proportionality between the legal requirements and the technical feasibility”, especially in view of the fact that questions about the technical implementation and the associated challenges in the standard were not taken into account, that is, online shops are on themselves.
Accessibility as an opportunity
Instructions can offer websites and online shops that make good efforts, such as that of DM and REWE: While the latter uses good contrasts for better readability, the first value attaches a good adjustment of text size and contrasts. More examples can be found in the third Aktion Mensch-Test report “So barrier-free are online shops in Germany 2025”, which was created together with BITV-Consult, Google, UDG and the Pfennigparade Foundation.
The right attitude towards the requirements is also important: “Online retailers: Despite many open questions, you should not be put off, but accessibility as an opportunity for a greater range and greater customers: Understanding an interior bond even with an aging society,” advises the BEVH.