Launching the Hidden Journey on Purple Tuesday: why accessibility in retail matters more than ever

Today marks Purple Tuesday, a global initiative dedicated to improving the customer experience for people with disabilities and their families. It’s also the start of retail’s busiest season, with the festive shopping rush just around the corner.

Retail is changing fast, and online shopping continues to grow, with 62.1 million e-commerce customers predicted in the UK by the end of 2025. Growth is now driven not by new customers, but by increased spending, and the expectation of a good experience with digital services. Indeed, the UK remains Europe’s largest e-commerce market and ranks among the top 3 globally.

For retailers, this scale comes with responsibility. Accessibility isn’t a niche concern. It’s a commercial, ethical and reputational priority. Disabled people and their families in the UK have a combined spending power, known as the Purple Pound, estimated at £446 billion a year. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 billion people, around 20% of the population, experience disability. Together with their friends and families, their collective spending power reaches an estimated $13 trillion.

At Nexer Digital, we’re marking Purple Tuesday by sharing early insights from ‘The Hidden Journey’, our new campaign exploring accessibility in retail. This campaign will uncover the unseen barriers that disabled consumers still face and highlight practical steps retailers can take to improve.

Earlier this year, the UK government published its 2025 report on accessibility in private sector products and services, led by the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC). It found that retail was the worst affected sector for disabled consumers, with 65% of respondents reporting barriers. These barriers appeared at every stage of the customer journey and carried a real cost in time, energy, money and reputation.

We welcomed this research as an important benchmark. But we also saw an opportunity to go deeper, to uncover how these barriers make people feel and to show retailers where change is possible.

From browsing to checkout to post purchase support, The Hidden Journey is investigating the moments where poor design erodes trust and inclusion, and showing how responsible, accessible design can transform them for the better.

What our early research reveals

We surveyed people with lived experience of disability, impairment or access needs, focusing on retail and retail finance. The findings are sobering.*

• Barriers are widespread. 79% struggled to browse products; 81% found selecting an item difficult or impossible.
• Assistive tech is widely used. 43% use magnifiers or voice tools; 36% use screen readers.
• Design issues are widespread. Inaccessible content (66%), confusing navigation (62%) and intrusive pop ups (55%) were the top blockers.
• Checkout is a pain point. 81% struggled to complete transactions, often because of inaccessible CAPTCHA or complex verification steps.
• Post purchase support matters. 1 in 10 couldn’t get what they needed after buying.

When faced with such barriers, people asked for help, switched to competitors or gave up entirely. Around one in four shoppers who encountered a barrier either switched or stopped.

Behind the numbers are real experiences and emotions

Respondents told us:

“I stick to the same websites, ones that I find easier to use and familiar with.”

“Sometimes I just give up entirely.”

“I get really stressed with online shopping. I worry that I’ll click the wrong thing, accidentally go on a site that’s a scam, or put in the wrong details.”

These stories build on the findings of the government’s report, showing how barriers shape emotions and behaviour. When services are inaccessible, confidence disappears. When they work well, loyalty and trust grow.

The hidden cost of poor design

Accessibility issues often start small, things like unclear buttons, low colour contrast or inaccessible verification steps. But the cumulative effect is huge.

In our survey:

• 88% felt frustrated
• 69% felt excluded
• 54% felt angry
• 37% felt anxious

These emotions influence purchasing choices. Nearly every respondent said they avoid, or would avoid, brands that fail to meet their accessibility needs. Many also share those experiences publicly, warning others away. For retailers, that means a hidden cost not just in lost sales, but in damaged trust and reputation.

As we mark Purple Tuesday, this is a timely moment for retailers to commit to tangible improvements and communicate them clearly. As the Christmas shopping season approaches, these insights should remind us that accessibility is essential.

Shoppers who find inclusive, friction free experiences are more likely to return, spend more and recommend those brands. Our survey found that when retailers meet accessibility needs well:

• 98% are more likely to buy again
• 81% will recommend them
• 57% say they spend more

Practical steps retailers can take now

Bring in accessibility expertise and co-design with people with disabilities

Accessibility is a specialist skill. Working with experts, and involving disabled customers directly in your design process, helps you identify and fix barriers that automated tools often miss. Co-design ensures your decisions are validated through real-world use, rather than assumptions or compliance checklists.

Partner with accessibility consultants who can triage issues and prioritise fixes with the greatest customer impact. Ask for tailored recommendations relevant to your business context, not just generic audit reports. Use recognised standards such as WCAG and the European Accessibility Act as a foundation but test every improvement with real users to make sure it works in practice.

Test and iterate with people who have access needs

True accessibility cannot be measured by tools alone. Test your websites and apps with people who use assistive technologies such as screen readers, magnifiers, voice control or custom browsers, as well as those with cognitive or energy limiting conditions.

Observe complete end-to-end journeys, from browsing and selecting an item through to checkout, delivery and returns. Pay attention not only to whether tasks can be completed, but also how they feel along the way. Once you have made improvements, test again with the same users. Sharing those outcomes publicly shows accountability and builds trust.

Embed accessibility across teams and training

Accessibility needs to be everyone’s responsibility, not a separate task. Train designers, developers, product owners, content teams, and store and delivery staff to recognise barriers and remove them early. Encourage teams to see accessibility as part of quality and user experience, not an afterthought.

Track success metrics such as task completion rates, drop-offs and assistive technology usage, and review them regularly. When inclusion becomes business as usual, good design follows naturally.

Think beyond your website

Accessibility and inclusion do not stop at the checkout page. They extend across the entire customer journey. Consider how people discover your products, seek support, return items or contact your team. Small, consistent changes across these touchpoints can transform someone’s overall experience and build long-term trust and loyalty.

Fix the high impact basics

Start by tackling the small things that make a big difference. Reduce unnecessary noise and friction by limiting pop-ups, auto opening chat windows and overlays that interrupt key tasks. Make sure any close or dismiss actions are clearly labelled and work by keyboard, screen reader or touch.

Clarity is critical at the moments that matter. Ensure key buttons such as “Add to basket”, “Checkout” and “Pay now” are easy to find, consistently labelled and visually distinct. Review your content to make sure alt text is meaningful, colour contrast meets accessibility standards, and focus order makes sense. Use clear links, form labels and plain, accessible language.

Verification and payment steps can be major blockers. Offer accessible alternatives to CAPTCHA puzzles, and provide multiple two factor authentication options such as email, app, SMS or passkey. Respect users’ time and energy. Extend session timeouts during checkout, give clear warnings before expiry and allow people to recover their basket without starting over.

Make payments, delivery and returns inclusive

Accessibility should not stop at checkout. Offer a range of payment options that do not rely solely on smartphones or app based verification and always allow guest checkout for those who prefer not to create an account.

Be transparent about delivery options. Provide clear time windows, ensure tracking systems work with screen readers, and make it easy for customers to add specific delivery instructions such as “allow extra time to answer the door.”

Keep returns straightforward with printable and digital labels, clear language and flexible return windows for those who may need additional support. These changes improve the experience for everyone.

Build a strategy for continual improvement

Accessibility is not a one-off project. It is a commitment to learning and improving over time. Embed it into your digital and operational strategies, and measure progress through user success, satisfaction and loyalty.

By making accessibility part of everyday practice, retailers can create experiences that work for all customers, and build the trust, reputation and repeat business that inclusive design makes possible.

At Nexer Digital, we work with organisations to embed accessibility across digital, retail and customer journeys. Our team can help you co-design improvements, prioritise fixes and unlock the Purple Pound by creating inclusive experiences.

What’s next for the Hidden Journey

Our Hidden Journey campaign will continue into 2026, combining survey data with qualitative interviews and expert led accessibility audits across retail and retail finance. These audits will map entire customer journeys, from browsing and buying to delivery and returns, to identify where experiences break down and how to fix them.

The full Hidden Journey report, Shopping shouldn’t be this hard, will be published in spring 2026, combining survey data with in depth interviews and journey mapping across UK retail.

In the meantime, we’ll share further insights and practical tools to help retailers design for dignity, trust and inclusion, and to make this Christmas more accessible for everyone.

Want to get involved or receive the Hidden Journey campaign report? Email us at: hello@nexerdigital.com

*Research based on 56 survey responses