Zoovu Addresses Massive Gap in Ecommerce Accessibility by Enabling Brands to Easily Create Accessible Shopping Experiences at Scale
May 16 2024 - 10:04AM
Business Wire
Platform empowers biggest ecommerce brands
in the world to create personalized shopping experiences that
comply with WCAG 2.1 and ADA (level AA) guidelines
Zoovu, a leader in AI powered ecommerce product discovery,
marked Global Accessibility Awareness Day by announcing its
platform has recently released new tools and capabilities that
allow enterprise ecommerce companies to create product discovery
experiences that comply with level AA of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) 2.1.
Today, 27 percent of the population in the United States have
accessibility challenges, according to the Center for Disease
Control (CDC). Yet, more than 45% of major ecommerce sites fail to
comply with ADA requirements and 96.3% had a detectable WCAG
failure, according to the Bureau of Internet Accessibility’s 2023
State of Ecommerce Accessibility. While this deficiency in
accessibility means millions of consumers don’t have the proper
access to shop online, it has also led to a 43% year-over-year
increase in accessibility lawsuits, according to data from
UsableNet.
“When you consider that more of our lives are digital, it’s
clear that ensuring accessibility is more than following the law.
It’s just the right thing to do,” said Bryan Gould, director,
National Center for Accessible Media, a non-profit helping to drive
accessibility standards and compliance.
Millions of people interact with Zoovu’s product discovery
experiences every year, which is why helping brands create
accessible ways to shop has been part of the company’s DNA since
day-one. This new round of capabilities ensures online businesses
have all the tools they need to build product discovery experiences
that meet ADA compliance requirements.
These new features include making it easier to provide live
video and audio captions, 4.5-to-1 contrast ratios to ensure text
is readable by those who may have color blindness, up to 200% text
resizing, and simpler navigation with consistent menus and buttons.
For online buyers, Zoovu’s AA level of compliance reduces cognitive
load and enhances understanding for users with diverse
abilities.
Zoovu is known for managing massive and complex collections of
product information, frequently changing content and product pages,
chat assistant dialogs, and complex ecommerce functionality. This
experience enables the company to have a deeper understanding of
the ways frequent website changes can inadvertently disrupt the
customer’s online experience and result in a violation of ADA
compliance.
“For over a decade, Zoovu has been powering ADA-compliant
customer experiences for the world’s leading B2B and B2C brands in
retail and manufacturing,” said Jonathan Taylor, chief technology
officer at Zoovu. “Our next level certification allows any business
that sells its products online to set themselves apart by
empowering every consumer to discover the right products. This
focus on inclusivity creates bonds with customers that lead to much
stronger long-term relationships.”
About Zoovu
Ecommerce is broken and Zoovu is fixing it. As the #1 AI-powered
product discovery platform, we help B2C, B2B, and retail companies
unlock their product and customer data to build exceptional
ecommerce experiences and drive breakthrough results. The world’s
largest ecommerce businesses, like Microsoft, 3M, Miele, and
KitchenAid, use Zoovu customer behavior insights to grow faster,
increase customer satisfaction, and reduce marketing and
operational costs. Headquartered in Boston, Zoovu is a global
company that delivers over 20 million online engagements for brands
each year, with conversions up to 10X higher than industry
averages. Learn more at zoovu.com.
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Kathy Keating Point B Partners for Zoovu
kathy@pointbpartners.com