[MD-Sligo] FW: [Tech-VI] Accessible online shopping with Innosearch | AD

Thu Feb 20 19:53:03 UTC 2025

From: tech-vi at groups.io <tech-vi at groups.io> On Behalf Of David Goldfield via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2025 11:38 PM
To: tv <tech-vi at groups.io>
Subject: [Tech-VI] Accessible online shopping with Innosearch | AD

Life of a Blind Girl - Sunday, February 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Accessible online shopping with Innosearch | AD

*This post is a paid collaboration with Innosearch, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’d seen a few fellow disabled bloggers and content creators talk about Innosearch, so when the team reached out to me to ask whether I’d be interested in working together, I was keen to find out more.

I’m all too familiar with inaccessible online shopping experiences, regularly sticking to my much-loved, accessible places. When Innosearch told me that they’ve created an accessible online shopping platform, I was ready to put it to the test.

Some context about Innosearch

If like me, you’d never heard of Innosearch until recently, or perhaps this post is the first time you’re finding out about the platform, let me tell you some more.

Innosearch* <https://www.innosearch.ai/?ref=holly-tuke>  are revolutionising online shopping for people with access requirements, including blind and vision impaired people. They’re on a mission to empower confidence and independence for disabled people when online shopping.

Innosearch is an e-commerce platform which aims to make online shopping a seamless experience for everyone. They’ve created an innovative platform where users can enjoy a clutter-free, accessible shopping experience. It has features like AI-generated image descriptions and streamlined navigation, for millions of products across 500,000+ retailers.

The site eliminates the need to switch between tabs or multiple webpages, enhancing the user experience. One of their goals is to give people the information they need while finding the best deals, ultimately helping people save money. Who can say no to that?

My experience of online shopping as a blind person.

Like I previously mentioned, online shopping can be a frustrating experience for disabled people. Inaccessible websites and the lack of commitment from retailers both for disabled customers and accessibility as a whole can make it a pretty terrible experience, rather than an enjoyable one. We therefore don’t have the freedom to use any website we want, taking away our luxury of finding the best deals on the market. I know I’m not the only person who tends to stick to my comfort blankets because I know they won’t let me down.

As a screen reader user, the inaccessibility I find myself up against time and time again includes unlabelled links and buttons, poor use of headings, images with no alt text, vague descriptions of items, inaccessible payment methods and web forms that aren’t accessible. That’s only scratching the surface – the list of barriers I find myself up against would be a blog post in itself.

Whilst platforms like Innosearch seek to make online shopping a more accessible experience for disabled customers, it doesn’t mean that brands, businesses and organisations should disregard accessibility. There’s no excuse for them not to make their websites accessible.

Embedding accessibility into everything you do means that you’re creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for disabled customers. That speaks volumes, let me tell you.

Innosearch is a brilliant example of how it can be done. There’s lots that can be learned from them.

Online shopping using Innosearch

When Innosearch loaded, my screen reader announced the platform’s tagline which is “your ultimate shopping assistant.” It was a promising start.

The first time I visited the site, there were two things I did: have a browse of the website and create a free account.

Tapping away at my keyboard, I was met with all links and buttons that were labelled, along with a great use of headings. Navigation felt like a breeze.

Creating an account only took a couple of minutes thanks to all fields being labelled correctly. Once done, I was ready to start exploring!

When the site first loads, you’re met with a landing page that presents you with the latest flash deals, along with some bestselling items. The deals are updated all the time, so there’s always something new whenever you visit. One thing that struck me straight away was how I could scroll the deals quickly in any way that I chose, whether that was via links, headings or my cursor keys. There was no cumbersome navigation or loss of focus on the page.

I also liked how my screen reader didn’t get distracted by constant pop-ups, which always force me to navigate away from what I’m looking at.

Innosearch has a handy search function that’s easy to find which is also labelled correctly. I decided to put it to the test, typing in the keywords for some AirPods, an item that had been on my wishlist for a while.

The results loaded quickly, my screen reader announcing how many results were on the page. Scrolling through, I was presented with options from an array of retailers including Amazon and Apple. I was given the relevant information I needed at first glance like the price, cost of delivery and whether there were any discounts. I also had the option to bookmark items for later if I wished.

Clicking on the one I wanted, I was met with the product information and customer reviews. There were also product images – hold tight for more on that.

One cool feature about the platform is the ‘Ask Innosearch’ button. It’s a feature that acts as your virtual shopping assistant, answering your questions. This is a real time-saver, coming in extremely useful when I was looking for some new jeans. It gave me a feeling of independence and autonomy because I was able to use the feature to ask questions I’d otherwise have to get sighted assistance with.

Something I particularly love is how you can ask the feature to describe the product images. It comes back with very detailed descriptions, something that’s never available on retailers’ websites themselves. It ought to be.

Businesses, if you happen to be reading this – add decent image descriptions, please.

Once I decided the product I wanted and the retailer to purchase from, I easily found the ‘add to cart’ button. The payment was simple, and most importantly accessible.

The free delivery I received was a bonus!

Final thoughts

The most stressful part about online shopping for me as a blind person can be the distinct lack of accessibility. When a website is accessible, it makes for an enjoyable experience. When it isn’t, the levels of stress and frustration are heightened.

The accessibility also dictates whether I’ll return again.

Now that I’ve tried Innosearch, I’ll most certainly be visiting more.

Having an accessible and easy to use platform that makes the process far quicker than navigating a site that isn’t, means that I can actually enjoy the experience. What’s more, it gives me the independence I want.

As a disabled person, I’d much rather spend my time (and money) somewhere that values disabled customers.

Have you tried Innosearch <https://www.innosearch.ai/?ref=holly-tuke>  for yourself? I’d be keen to hear your thoughts.

For you, which retailers are leading the way when it comes to accessibility? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Thank you to the team over at Innosearch for collaborating with me on this post. Not only did I enjoy testing out the platform for myself, it was fun to turn those thoughts into a blog post.

Holly x

https://lifeofablindgirl.com/2025/02/09/accessible-online-shopping-with-innosearch-ad/

David Goldfield,

Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist

If you need help using your assistive technology learn about my training services by visiting

WWW.ScreenReaderTraining.com <http://www.screenreadertraining.com/> 

Am Yisrael Chai

The Nation of Israel Lives!

JAWS Certified, 2022 <https://www.freedomscientific.com/Training/Certification/> 

NVDA Certified Expert <https://certification.nvaccess.org/> 

Subscribe to the Tech-VI announcement list to receive news, events and information regarding the blindness assistive technology field.

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