Is Dutch eCommerce ready for what's next in accessibility?

Is the European Accessibility Act a ticking time bomb for e-commerce, or the sector's next great opportunity? Nine months after the deadline, the focus is shifting from preparation to accountability. The Dutch Authority for Digital Infrastructure (RDI) and the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) are intensifying their enforcement. Web shops face the risk of immediate sanctions, as fully integrating the WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 standards has proven more complex than initially estimated. The online checkout and product comparison features are expected to be the biggest operational bottlenecks in the e-commerce customer journey this year.

While market leaders are confronting the limitations of their legacy platform architecture, the smartest ones are looking beyond the threat of sanctions. The narrative should not be about "what you must do," but "what you can gain."

Embracing accessibility is a direct lever for growth. It unlocks a largely excluded market of 4.5 million people in the Netherlands alone, a demographic with significant and often underestimated purchasing power. Organizations that remove friction from the customer journey can achieve a 15-25% increase in conversion rates.

Furthermore, accessibility directly boosts search performance. An accessible website can see a 20-30% improvement in SEO and GEO rankings, leading to better findability, more qualified traffic, and a direct, positive impact on revenue. It’s a clear case of doing good and doing well, transforming a legal requirement into a powerful strategy for growth and customer acquisition. 

To cut through the noise and explore this very tension between risk and reward, Emerce brought the debate to center stage. Moderated by Krijn Schuurman, a panel of industry heavyweights tackled the challenge head-on, including: