E-commerce websites accounted for 69% of all ADA digital accessibility lawsuits in the first half of 2025. If you sell anything online, you are in the most targeted industry for accessibility litigation.
This article breaks down the data: which platforms get sued most, what specific e-commerce features trigger complaints, and what it costs to fix versus what it costs to get sued.
The Industry Breakdown
UsableNet's 2025 midyear report found that e-commerce dominates ADA filings:
| Industry | % of Lawsuits |
|---|---|
| E-commerce | 69% |
| Food services | 18% |
| Healthcare | 4% |
| Fitness & Wellness | 3% |
| Education | 2% |
| Other | 4% |
Within e-commerce, EcomBack's data provides a more granular breakdown:
| Sub-category | H1 2025 Cases | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant, Food & Beverages | 614 | 30.49% |
| Fashion, Clothing & Apparel | 580 | 28.80% |
| Beauty, Skin & Body Care | 179 | 8.89% |
| Medical & Health | 144 | 7.15% |
| Furniture, Home Decor & Kitchen | 106 | 5.26% |
| Fitness & Sports | 51 | 2.53% |
| Educational & Media | 39 | 1.94% |
| Toys, Games & Gifts | 38 | 1.89% |
| Electronics | 37 | 1.84% |
| Equipment & Tools | 37 | 1.84% |
Restaurants and fashion retailers combine for nearly 60% of all filings.
Which Platforms Get Sued Most
Not all e-commerce platforms face equal risk. The website's underlying platform affects both the likelihood of accessibility issues and the volume of lawsuits:
| Platform | H1 2025 Cases | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Custom-coded websites | 691 | 34.31% |
| Shopify | 653 | 32.42% |
| WordPress/WooCommerce | 403 | 20.01% |
| Magento | 113 | 5.61% |
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | 94 | 4.67% |
| Squarespace | 60 | 2.98% |
Source: EcomBack 2025 Mid-Year Report
Shopify stores account for nearly a third of all lawsuits — driven by the platform's enormous market share and the fact that many Shopify themes ship with accessibility issues out of the box. This doesn't mean Shopify is inherently inaccessible; it means many store owners install themes and apps without testing them.
Custom-coded sites top the list because they have no default accessibility framework — everything depends on the developer's knowledge and priorities.
Who Gets Targeted
Plaintiffs are increasingly targeting larger companies:
- 36% of defendants in H1 2025 had annual revenue exceeding $25 million (up from 33% in 2024)
- 35.8% of the top 500 e-commerce retailers received at least one ADA lawsuit
- 1,427 cases (45% of federal filings) targeted companies that had already been sued before
Source: UsableNet
But small businesses aren't safe. The remaining 64% of targets had revenue under $25 million. A Shopify store doing $500K in annual revenue is as legally liable as a Fortune 500 company.
The E-Commerce-Specific Issues
Beyond the general accessibility issues (see our full breakdown), e-commerce sites face additional challenges specific to online shopping:
Product Images
Product photos without descriptive alt text are the most basic violation. A screen reader user trying to shop hears "image, image, image" — with no information about the product's color, style, size, or features.
Fix: Write alt text that describes what a shopper needs to know. "Women's navy blue V-neck sweater, size M" — not "sweater" or "IMG_4521.jpg."
Filtering and Sorting
Product filters (size, color, price range, category) built with custom JavaScript often lack ARIA attributes and keyboard support. A screen reader user may not be able to narrow results by size or sort by price.
Fix: Use semantic HTML for filter controls. Every filter option needs a label. State changes (selected/unselected) must be announced to assistive technology.
Shopping Cart and Checkout
The checkout flow is where lawsuits focus. Common failures:
- Cart quantity fields without labels
- Address autocomplete that doesn't work with screen readers
- Payment forms in iframes without proper accessibility attributes
- Error messages that appear visually but aren't associated with the field that caused the error
- "Remove item" buttons that say only "X" — a screen reader user hears "X" with no context about which item would be removed
Fix: Test your entire checkout flow with NVDA or VoiceOver. Every field needs a label. Every error needs a programmatic association with its field. Every button needs descriptive text.
Price and Availability Information
Sale prices, stock status, and shipping estimates are often conveyed through visual styling (strikethrough text, green/red colors) that screen readers don't interpret.
Fix: Use <del> for original prices and text labels for status ("In Stock" vs. relying on a green dot).
Reviews and Ratings
Star ratings rendered as images without alt text, review submission forms without labels, and rating filters that don't work with keyboard navigation.
The Math: Compliance vs. Lawsuit
| Item | Compliance Cost | Lawsuit Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility audit | $2,000–$10,000 | — |
| Theme/code remediation | $3,000–$25,000 | — |
| Ongoing monitoring | $100–$500/month | — |
| Settlement payment | — | $5,000–$25,000 |
| Defendant attorney fees | — | $10,000–$50,000 |
| Court-ordered remediation | — | $5,000–$50,000 |
| Total | $5,000–$35,000 | $20,000–$125,000 |
Compliance is 3-5x cheaper than the cheapest lawsuit outcome. And compliance prevents all future lawsuits — a settlement only resolves the current one. For a detailed cost analysis, see our 2025 lawsuit cost breakdown.
Platform-Specific Starting Points
Shopify
- Use a theme that advertises WCAG 2.1 AA compliance (Dawn, Shopify's default free theme, has improved accessibility)
- Audit every third-party app for accessibility — apps inject code into your storefront that may introduce barriers
- Use Shopify's built-in alt text field for every product image
- Test your checkout flow — Shopify controls much of the checkout experience, but customizations can break accessibility
WordPress/WooCommerce
- Use a theme that passes WCAG 2.1 AA testing (not just one that claims to)
- Audit plugins — contact forms, popup builders, and slider plugins are common accessibility failure points
- WooCommerce's core checkout has improved but still requires testing with screen readers
- Consider Woffy — it fixes accessibility issues directly in your WordPress source code, addressing alt text, ARIA labels, heading structure, contrast, and keyboard navigation without overlays or widgets. It's one of the fastest ways to get ADA compliant on WordPress without hiring an agency
Custom-Built
- Implement accessibility from the start — retrofitting is always more expensive
- Follow WCAG 2.1 AA as the minimum standard
- Include accessibility testing in your QA process alongside functional testing
The Bottom Line
If you run an online store, you are in the most sued industry for ADA web accessibility. The combination of high transaction volume, complex interactive elements (filters, carts, checkout), and rich media (product images, videos) creates more opportunities for accessibility failures than any other type of website.
The plaintiffs know this. The law firms know this. The 2,014 lawsuits filed in H1 2025 confirm it.
Audit your store. Fix the issues. It's cheaper than the alternative. Start with a free Woffy scan to see exactly where your site falls short.
Sources: EcomBack 2025 Mid-Year Report, UsableNet 2025 Midyear Report, UsableNet 2026 Trends, CourtListener RECAP Archive, WebAIM Million 2025