An examination on `website accessibility' for active engagement of visually impaired e-commerce customers

BACKGROUND: The dominance of a digital wave is being felt in every sphere of the industry, and has been a big boon for online shoppers today. However, companies tend to ignore a section of their customer base, i.e. those who are visually impaired; although there are well-established standards set by WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Although most e-commerce companies in India conform to these guidelines, as per the recommendations from the Indian government; however ironically; these are not accessible by the blind. OBJECTIVE: This paper specially focuses on the list of problems that the visually-impaired in India face while trying to access e-commerce sites, as most of the sites haven't conformed to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. METHOD: Qualitative analysis through the Repertory technique by Kelly in which, the grid developed for different constructs addressing various problems faced by such users in accessing e-commerce websites. FINDINGS: From the findings, it is evident that these visually impaired people are extremely open to gaining access towards the companies' strategies, as they also want to be a part of the main segment of the society, and would in turn be a strong contributor to the profits of the companies, if they're taken seriously. The findings also have a series of managerial as well as social implications. CONCLUSION: Further, the study also looks at lending some suggestions through which, marketing managers would be able to look into this prevailing problem, and thereby address the same, while enhancing their level of engagement with this speciallyenabled client base. This would result not only in adding profits to the business at large, but also ensure customer satisfaction and delight, albeit the fact that they're differently abled.