Point of sale (POS) terminals, smart checkouts, public facing smart displays and employee smart displays. There’s a lot to unpack with what accessibility requirements need to be met within the retail environment in Australia.

Australian federal law

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is the federal law that makes disability discrimination unlawful in defined areas of public life. Section 24 of the DDA relates to the provision of goods and services.

“Any digital good or service created for people to consume, engage with and/or control including digital content, applications, systems, and services, including self-service kiosks and systems required to complete a task at work.”

Whilst the DDA is law, Australia has had few complaints of disability discrimination. The complaints it has had include:

• The Coles Group settled out of court with an undertaking to make the digital experiences of their supermarket website accessible including mobile apps and point of sale terminals.
• The Commonwealth bank had a complaint made against its 'Albert' Touch screen POS machine, and it too settled out of court with agreement to enhance the accessibility of the device and digital experiences.

ARA code of ethics

The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) code of ethics contains two applicable principles which we consider accessibility centric.

• Professional behaviour complying with the relevant laws
• Regulations and caring demonstrating genuine care and respect for human dignity.

Although there’s nothing specifically discussing accessibility requirements both principles are open to interpretation.

Following the professional behaviour complying with the relevant laws requirement can be viewed as adhering to the principles in the DDA by providing digital technology that is non-discriminatory.

Equally respecting customers individual diversity with disability is addressed with Regulations and caring demonstrating genuine care and respect for human dignity.

There is a clear argument to be made the ARA code of ethics supports an accessible digital experience for customers. Where it becomes uncertain is the scope of the digital technology covered, which ultimately may be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Self-checkout kiosk

It is our opinion self-checkout kiosks are in scope with the DDA requirement. A customer must directly interact with the kiosk.

Therefor a kiosk that does not provide accessibility support means a customer encountering difficulty completing their shopping task, and in some instances not completing it at all would be in contravention of the DDA.

Sales associate display

Considering all job roles now contain an element of digital use, all digital technology a sales associate uses is in scope. A sales associate’s task of interacting with digital technology that has no alternative accessible method would be in contravention of the DDA.

Public facing display

Public facing displays may be in scope depending on the context they are used and would hinge on the definition of “service” with the content displayed.

Is a service or information only provided through the display? Whilst this scenario may be true, the addition of customer service staff means a customer has an alternative means of identifying the information.

If the display is unattended and is the sole way of providing information this may be in contravention of the DDA.

Conclusion

With the update to the Australian Human Rights Commission advisory notes, digital accessibility requirements extend far beyond the traditional website or app. Any digital technology used by customers or staff is in scope.

Where there is uncertainty, such as in the case of public facing displays we suggest a pragmatic approach is taken and assume it is in scope.

Accessibility is less about managing risk, and more about improving reach with supporting customers with diverse needs.

The DDA is the requirement which has significant room for interpretation. However, there has been precedent with supermarkets and banks settling out of court and it’s these few cases where we encourage all retailers to provide accessible experiences through their entire digital platform.