Guide · Shopify · European Accessibility Act

EAA compliance for Shopify stores

Since 28 June 2025, online shops selling to consumers in the EU must meet the accessibility requirements of the European Accessibility Act (EAA). Here is what that means for a Shopify store, what usually goes wrong, and how to show you are working on it.

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Does the EAA apply to my Shopify store?

The EAA covers e-commerce services offered to consumers in the EU, whatever platform the shop runs on. Shopify hosts your store, but you are the one offering the service, so the content, theme and apps on your storefront are your responsibility.

Micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 staff and no more than €2 million annual turnover or balance sheet total) are exempt for services. Each EU country has written the act into its own law, with its own authority and penalties, so check what applies in the countries you sell to.

What the requirements mean in practice

The EAA points to the harmonised standard EN 301 549, which for websites means WCAG 2.1 level A and AA. In plain terms: customers must be able to find products, read prices, choose variants, add to cart and pay using only a keyboard, a screen reader, zoomed-in text or high contrast.

You also need to explain how your service meets the requirements, usually in an accessibility statement linked from your store's footer.

The most common problems on Shopify stores

• Product images without alt text, or with the file name as alt text.
• Low contrast on sale prices, badges, placeholder text and light-grey buttons.
• Icon-only buttons (cart, search, menu, quantity +/−) with no name for screen readers.
• Variant pickers and quantity fields without labels.
• Cookie banners, pop-ups and chat widgets from apps that trap keyboard focus or cannot be closed.
• Headings used for looks instead of structure, so screen-reader users cannot skim the page.

Many of these come from the theme or from installed apps rather than your own content. Check again after a theme update or a new app.

Fixing the usual suspects in Shopify

• Alt text: Products → open the product → click the image → Add alt text. For banners and collection images, open the image block in the theme editor.
• Colours: Online Store → Themes → Customize → Theme settings → Colors. Check sale price, badge and button colours with a contrast checker (at least 4.5:1 for normal text).
• Apps: if an app adds a pop-up or widget that fails, ask the developer for an accessible version, or remove it.
• Theme code: missing button and form labels usually need a small change in the theme's Liquid files, or a theme update from its developer.

Why documentation matters

Automated tests catch only part of all accessibility problems, and no tool can make a store compliant on its own. What you can show is that you check regularly, fix what you find and keep a record. A dated history of scans and fixes, plus an accessibility statement, is good evidence that you take the requirements seriously.

How Evident Access helps

Evident Access scans up to five key pages (home, a product, cart, checkout) every week in a real browser against WCAG 2.1 A and AA. Each issue comes with plain-language fix steps, including Shopify-specific ones. You get an email when something new breaks, and a printable, dated evidence report whenever you need one.