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Home > Web Services > Resources > You are here eNation reports

State of the eNation Reports

Leading supermarkets failing to address online shopping needs of disabled customers

18 January 2008

Of the UK’s five most prominent supermarkets only one has a website which meets the basic accessibility needs of disabled customers. A survey released today by computing and disability charity, AbilityNet, highlights that four out of the five are missing out on a market worth millions.

The survey is an in-depth audit of the UK’s top five supermarkets, which looks at both usability and accessibility. Only Tesco’s alternative website – www.tesco.com/access - is easily accessed by people with a vision impairment, dyslexia or physical disability making mouse use difficult, and gains a four-star rating on AbilityNet’s five-star scale.

None of the other sites pass even basic levels of accessibility and, as a consequence, are losing out on a massive market opportunity. The survey results show scores of: Sainsburys – www.sainsburys.co.uk -(one star); Morrisons – www.morereasons.co.uk - (one star); Asda – www.asda.co.uk - (one star) and Somerfield – www.somerfield.co.uk - (two stars) with Tesco’s mainstream site – www.tesco.com obtaining only two stars.

The results are broadly in line with findings from earlier AbilityNet surveys into websites operated by leading airlines, newspapers and banks - industry sectors that, like supermarkets, have generally led the move into e-business and online operation, all of which failed basic accessibility tests.

All supermarkets surveyed were asked by AbilityNet to make a public commitment to accessibility. To date Sainsburys, Asda and Morrison’s have done so, with both Asda and Morrisons pledging to make their home shopping facilities DDA-compliant in the near future.

Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet’s Web Consultancy Manager, himself blind, says: “Recently published research by The Disability Rights Commission shows that able-bodied visitors also benefit from accessible websites, finding information easier and quicker to locate by some 35 %, so the commercial argument is overwhelming. When we order our groceries on-line we are seeking critical functionality - namely speed and efficiency - not a life-changing experience. Accessible sites are simply easier to use: they improve productivity for everyone.”

International usability guru, Jacob Nielsen, agrees: “Fancy media on websites typically fails user testing. Simple text and clear photos not only communicate better with users, they also enhance users’ feelings of control and thus support the web’s mission as an instant gratification environment.”

Julie Howell, Digital Policy Development Officer at the RNIB, corroborates this view: “Many fully-sighted people find Tesco’s simply designed Access site offers them a better user experience than any other supermarket website. Developed for vision-impaired users, it now takes a surprising £13 million a year, and seems to attract a much wider audience than originally intended.”

“The Internet is all about inclusivity,” says Christopherson. “There is no reason why your site can’t be both accessible and professional. Plans for Tesco to combine the best aspects of their main and Access sites later this year will be good news for all their customers.”

Typical problems encountered by Christopherson and his team included:

Text size on most sites is ‘hard-coded’ making it difficult to enlarge – so vital for many visitors who have a vision impairment.

The text labels attached to images upon which blind visitors and text browser users rely for an explanation, are often uninformative or completely absent. Without these spoken labels on graphical links, navigation for a blind visitor is pure guesswork. “Imagine trying to drive to your destination where exits at each junction are left blank,” says Christopherson.

Pictures of text are often used instead of actual text. This not only means that the user cannot modify the text size or colour contrast – essential for those with a vision impairment or dyslexia – it also prevents screen reader users from reading the content when – as so frequently happens - these images are left unlabelled.

‘Frames’- sections of the page which may scroll independently one from another - are not handled well by some speaking and text only browsers, and often create difficulties when the visitor wants to print or bookmark the page.

Several sites are reliant on mini programs embedded in the page called JavaScript which are not recognised by many older browsers, or some specialist browsers used by those with a vision impairment. As a result, the crucial shopping basket process was disabled – and in one case even access to the entire site was denied.

One site embedded important content in a ‘flash movie’ interactive presentation – the vast majority of visitors who cannot use a mouse, are vision-impaired, or use speech output or voice recognition software simply cannot access such content.

These sites exclude a hugely valuable potential market comprising 1.6 million vision impaired users, 1.5 million people with cognitive difficulties, a further 3.4 million with disabilities preventing them from using the standard keyboard, screen and mouse set-up with ease, some 6 million with dyslexia and many millions with literacy difficulties, not to mention the increasing number of elderly ‘silver surfers’ with failing eyesight or arthritis, who find getting to the supermarket difficult.

E-businesses are losing out on a market worth millions a year simply by failing minimum accessibility standards. The buying power of disabled people in the UK is estimated to be over £60 Billion. For disabled people shopping on-line can represent independence, convenience and choice, but as far as the majority of supermarkets are concerned, there has been a virtual technological ‘lock-out.’

“The business case for accessible shopping on-line is a powerful one, so it’s now up to our major retailers to walk the talk. The vision of an inclusive ‘e-society’ depends on website accessibility for everyone, whatever their disability or the technology they employ,” says Shuna Kennedy, AbilityNet’s chief executive.

“Cyberspace contains just as many barriers to participation as the physical world, but this need not be the case. With only 9% of website developers claiming any real understanding of access issues* – we’re asking for commitment to change, supported by education and awareness.

“The Internet has changed the way we access goods and information beyond recognition. To create a website which disabled people can use isn’t only a matter of commercial logic and moral duty; like other suppliers of goods and services, websites must now comply with equal access laws under the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act,” she adds.

State of the eNation reports

AbilityNet is at the forefront of a number of initiatives both at home and abroad to improve website accessibility for disabled people and provide both private and public sector organisations with the expertise they need to ensure that their websites are meeting guideline levels of compliance (such as those recommended by the W3C/WAI).

AbilityNet’s ‘State of the eNation’ reports are designed to draw attention to the issue of accessibility and usability and to help disabled people find the best websites for their needs. AbilityNet’s next report, due to be published in September, will focus on the websites of the ten football clubs that finished the season at the top of the Premiership.

For more information on website accessibility, usability and design, contact AbilityNet on 0800 269545 or on accessibility@AbilityNet.org.uk

* The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People – DRC Press Office

June 2004

Issued by the AbilityNet Press Office
01926 429595

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Editor’s notes

W3C/WA1

These guidelines, first published in May 1999, provide a framework for accessibility. There are over 65 individual W3C checkpoints arranged in three levels of compliance to test for and only about a third can be assessed for conformity by an automated tool such as Watchfire’s Bobby. A comprehensive series of manual and automated tools, including the enterprise version of the Bobby accessibility testing solution, AccessibilityXM, is employed by AbilityNet in carrying out its surveys.

Euroaccessibility project

On 28 April 2003 in Paris, 24 European organisations from 12 countries agreed to establish a certification authority for web accessibility leading to an Accessibility Quality Mark. AbilityNet joined other disability charities, universities and communications companies in cooperation with US-based W3C/WA1, to pursue this objective, which aims to harmonise standards Europe-wide.

About AbilityNet

AbilityNet is a charity that brings the benefits of computer technology to adults and children with all types of disabilities. Through its network of eleven centres, it offers a comprehensive range of services to disabled people, professionals, employers and statutory bodies. It provides free information and advice on any aspect of computer use by disabled people including individual assessment of technology needs, adapted computer equipment with full training and technical support, a programme of awareness education, and consultancy for employers on system and workstation adaptations, as well as website accessibility.

In 2003 AbilityNet handled over 19,000 enquiries from disabled people and those supporting them through its national freephone service and regional centres. In addition, the charity's consultants saw over 2,000 disabled children and adults face-to-face for individual assessments, equipment, training sessions and home support visits.

In the same year, AbilityNet's professional education courses and seminars attracted nearly 4,000 staff from public, private and voluntary sector organisations, seeking to develop their awareness of adaptive technology for those with disabling conditions and learn practical solutions to apply in the workplace, at home or in education.

AbilityNet is dependent both nationally and locally on grants and donations from charitable trusts and companies, to carry out its work on behalf of disabled people and those who support them.

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For more information:

• Email accessibility@AbilityNet.org.uk
• Phone 0800 269545

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