Is a Shopify or WooCommerce webshop automatically accessible?

Platform choice does not determine the requirement, only the starting point

No, no platform is inherently accessible, and this applies to Shopify and WooCommerce just as much as to custom-built solutions. Both platforms provide a foundation that is reasonably sound in places — heading structure, semantic HTML in standard themes — but the implementation by the web shop owner determines the outcome: product images without alternative text, a checkout flow that only works with a mouse, a third-party checkout app that does not support keyboard navigation. The standard against which all of this is assessed is the same throughout the EU: EN 301 549, in practice WCAG 2.1 level AA, regardless of whether the shop runs on Shopify, WooCommerce or something else.

What does differ is where the risks usually lie. With Shopify, these often lie in themes and apps from the marketplace, which are not always assessed against the standard themselves; with WooCommerce, they often lie in plugins and in a theme that was never designed with accessibility in mind. Neither platform assesses this for the owner — it remains something to review yourself, whether the web shop has just been built or has been running for years.

What the ACM investigation into web shops reveals

The ACM investigation into the accessibility of web shops (Motivaction, March 2026) examined approximately one hundred major web shops and sites of telecommunications and energy providers, regardless of platform, and found that 61% were not digitally accessible, that in 33% placing an order was possible but required considerably more effort, and that only 13% could be fully operated with a keyboard. That platform choice in itself offers no guarantee is also evident from the standard itself: WCAG 2.1 (W3C), which EN 301 549 boils down to in practice, sets requirements for the end result of a page — contrast, labels, keyboard operability — and not for the underlying technology with which that page is built. An automated scan cannot assess part of these requirements, however, such as whether alternative text truly describes an image; this applies to every platform and is noted in every report.