Accessible buying journey
Navigation, forms and checkout also work with keyboards and assistive technology.
Germany's BFSG has applied to many online stores since June 2025. We bring your theme to WCAG 2.2 AA - in a way that survives everyday operation.
Built into the theme
Semantics, focus and contrast are solved in code instead of covered by an overlay.
Evidence that lasts
Findings, fixes and recurring checks remain documented and traceable.
- Since 2019
- 150+ Migrations and Relaunches
- Official Shopify Plus Partner
What does accessibility involve in a Shopify store?
Audit against WCAG 2.2 AA
Manual testing of the purchase path with keyboard and screen reader, backed by automated checks. The result is a list of concrete findings per template - with severity, affected criterion and effort.
Remediation in the theme
Semantic markup, focus order, labels, error messages, contrast and operable components. We build the fixes into the theme instead of covering them with an overlay script.
Statement and evidence
Documentation of the level reached, known limitations, a feedback route for users and the test steps behind the result. That is the basis for your accessibility statement.
Who does the BFSG apply to - and who is out of scope?
What the BFSG is
The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz transposes the European Accessibility Act into German law. It has applied since 28 June 2025 and covers, among other things, services in electronic commerce - meaning selling to consumers through an online store.
The microenterprise exemption
For services there is an exemption for microenterprises: fewer than ten employees and no more than two million euros in annual turnover or balance sheet total. Cross either threshold and the exemption no longer applies.
Consumers, not B2B
The scope targets offerings to consumers. A pure B2B portal without consumer business is assessed differently from a D2C store - and in case of doubt that is a legal question, not a technical one.
Not legal advice
We are developers, not a law firm. We tell you what your store meets technically and what it does not. Whether and to what extent you are in scope is for your legal counsel - we supply the facts they need.
Why not an overlay
Accessibility widgets promise conformance through a script. They change nothing about missing semantics in the markup, sometimes interfere with the assistive technology users already run, and replace no audit.
Why the theme, not an app
Most findings sit in templates, components and forms. They can only be fixed there. An app can add things, but it cannot make a badly built form correct.
What the checkout contributes
The Shopify checkout is provided by the platform and only adjustable within limits. What you do influence - your own UI extensions, branding contrast, additional fields - explicitly belongs in the audit.
What apps break
Review widgets, product finders, cookie banners and third-party chat windows are frequent sources of findings. Their accessibility is part of your page, even when the code is not yours.
How do we make an existing store accessible?
01
Define the scope
We bound the purchase path, customer account, forms and the editorially important pages. Not every landing page from 2021 has to be in the first pass.
02
Manual testing
Operating the store by keyboard only, a run with a screen reader, checks on focus, zoom, magnification and mouse-free operation. Automated tests find only part of the problems.
03
Prioritise findings
Anything that blocks buying goes first: variant picker, cart, forms, error messages. Navigation, filters and content pages follow.
04
Fix in the theme
Semantics, labels, focus styles, contrast, status messages and keyboard operation of components. Changes run through preview themes and are re-tested individually.
05
Settle third parties
For apps and widgets we assess alternatives, configuration or building it ourselves. Sometimes swapping an app is the shorter route than any repair.
06
Document and hold
Record the level reached, set up a feedback route and add accessibility to the acceptance of new features. Otherwise the state is lost again after two campaigns.
Where do Shopify stores fail an accessibility audit most often?
Variants as colour swatches
Colour and size pickers without labels, without a focus style and without a selection state a screen reader can detect.
Error messages with no link
Form errors appear in red next to the field but are not programmatically associated with it and never get announced.
Contrast in the brand palette
Light greys for prices, hints and disabled states routinely fall below the required contrast ratios.
Overlays without focus trapping
Cart drawers, filter panels and modals let keyboard focus run on behind them and cannot be closed with Escape.
Is an accessibility audit the right step right now?
Then your store belongs on the test bench
A complaint has come in
Users, an authority or a competitor have pointed at barriers. You need a solid finding first, not a quick repair.
Tenders are asking for it
Public buyers and large retail partners want a statement on your status. Without a documented audit no questionnaire can be filled in honestly.
The store is largely custom-built
Configurators, filters, cart drawers and size advisors are your own. That is exactly where automated tests miss the operability problems.
The theme came from a marketplace
Purchased themes advertise accessibility but rarely deliver it across all states. That still proves nothing about your store.
Then you are auditing the wrong thing
The store is being rebuilt right now
An audit report on templates that are about to disappear expires with the release. Accessibility then belongs in the requirements for the rebuild.
To Shopify developmentThe brand design is up for debate
If colours, contrast and components are being rethought anyway, you settle the same questions twice - once in the report, once in the design.
To UX/UI designThis is really about consent
Cookie banners, Consent Mode v2 and data sharing follow a different legal basis. An audit only assesses whether they can be operated.
To privacy and consentWorking together
In what setup do we work on accessibility?
Auditing, fixing and holding the line are three different jobs - and a store rarely needs all three at once.
Audit report
Who it is for
For stores that need to know their technical status against WCAG 2.2 AA before deciding on order of work and budget.
What is included
- Scope agreed before testing starts
- Findings with severity and success criterion
- Split between your part, platform and third parties
How it ends
Ends with a report another team could work through just as well.
Remediation in the theme
Who it is for
For stores that already have the findings and want the blocking ones genuinely gone from the theme.
What is included
- Fixes made through preview themes
- Retesting for each resolved finding
- Alternatives for apps that cannot be operated
How it ends
Ends once the agreed findings are fixed and each one is evidenced individually.
Holding the status
Who it is for
For stores shipping new sections, campaign pages and apps regularly that do not want to lose the status they reached.
What is included
- Checklist inside the definition of done
- Repeat checks on the purchase path
- User reports taken in and classified
How it ends
Ends with a status that stays documented and evidenced across releases.
E-commerce for brands with bigger ambitions.
Brands with €950M+ GMV trust us
From migration to scale, NICCOS combines bold design, robust technology and data-driven growth on Shopify.
Frequently asked questions about accessibility on Shopify
What exactly does the BFSG require from an online store?
The law names no lines of code; it points at the state of the art. In practice the route runs through the European standard EN 301 549, which references WCAG for web content. Working to conformance level AA covers the technical part of the requirement.
Are we in scope as a small store?
For services there is an exemption for microenterprises with fewer than ten employees and no more than two million euros in turnover or balance sheet total. Those thresholds are crossed quickly, and the assessment is a legal question. We supply the technical facts; your legal counsel makes the call.
Is an accessibility overlay enough?
No. Overlays sit on top of a page whose markup stays unchanged. Missing labels, wrong semantics and inoperable components remain. In some cases they even interfere with the assistive technology users already run. The fix belongs in the theme, not in a script above it.
Does WCAG 2.1 or WCAG 2.2 apply?
The European standard currently references WCAG 2.1 at level AA. We still work against WCAG 2.2 AA, because that version fully contains the older one and adds criteria on focus visibility and target size that matter in a store context anyway.
Is the Shopify checkout accessible?
The checkout is provided by Shopify and only adjustable within defined limits. Your share sits in what you add there: your own checkout extensions, additional fields, colour and contrast settings in branding. Those are exactly the parts we include in the audit.
How do we hold the level after the project?
By making accessibility part of acceptance. New sections, campaign pages and apps otherwise come back with the same defects. In practice: a short checklist in your definition of done, a keyboard and contrast pass before every release, and a named contact for user reports.
How far is your store from WCAG 2.2 AA?
We test the purchase path with keyboard and screen reader and tell you which findings block a sale and which can wait.
Last updated:
