Nexer Digital has published research showing that disabled consumers face widespread barriers across retail, financial services and travel, with many abandoning transactions or switching brands when they encounter access problems.

The report found that 87% of disabled consumers cannot complete a typical retail journey independently, while only 13% could complete the full journey without difficulty. Across the three sectors studied, respondents described barriers at the browsing, selection, checkout and post-purchase support stages.

Problems were especially pronounced online. Some 62% of respondents encountered inaccessible website content, while 55% cited confusing navigation and intrusive pop-ups during browsing. Nearly four in five found browsing difficult, and 81% said selecting an item was difficult or impossible.

Checkout emerged as a key point of failure. The findings showed that 81% of disabled consumers struggled to complete transactions, often because of inaccessible CAPTCHA systems or complex verification steps. As a result, 38% abandoned purchases at checkout.

Many respondents said they had to rely on other people to complete ordinary tasks. During browsing, 45% asked someone they knew for help, while 26% switched to a competitor. At the payment stage, 43% relied on others to complete a transaction.

The study suggested many of these issues go unseen by businesses. Only 9% of respondents said they contacted customer support when they faced a problem, and just 4% formally reported an accessibility issue.

Retail impact

Retail was identified as the sector with the highest level of difficulty, with 65% of disabled people reporting barriers over the past year, compared with 33% in financial services. Travel also stood out: 56% of respondents said they were unhappy with their journeys and made far fewer trips than the national average.

In travel, obstacles ranged from booking tools to later stages such as tickets, boarding and wayfinding. Early friction often led people to switch providers, while later problems caused journeys to be abandoned or left passengers dependent on staff.

Nexer Digital said the effects extended beyond convenience or lost sales. Respondents linked accessibility barriers to a loss of independence, dignity and privacy, particularly when they had to share personal or financial information with others to complete a task.

The emotional impact was also significant. The findings showed that 88% of respondents felt frustrated when they encountered accessibility barriers, 69% felt excluded, 54% felt angry and 37% felt anxious.

Hilary Stephenson, Managing Director at Nexer Digital, said: “Too many disabled customers are still being forced to work harder than everyone else just to do ordinary things such as browse, compare, buy, pay and get support afterwards.

“This is not a marginal issue. It is a design failure with real human and commercial consequences. What this research shows clearly is that when accessibility is overlooked, customers do not complain, they leave. And when they leave, they often do not come back.

“Many of the issues we see, from missing alternative text and inaccessible forms to poor colour contrast and keyboard traps, are not new. The issue is not a lack of solutions. It is a lack of prioritisation. Accessibility is still too often treated as an afterthought, when it should be built in from the start.”

Brand risk

The report also pointed to a broader effect on trust and customer retention. It found that 87% of participants said they avoid, or would avoid, a brand after experiencing accessibility issues, while 74% said they have told, or would tell, others to avoid a business.

By contrast, accessible experiences encouraged repeat business. Nexer Digital found that 98% of customers were more likely to buy again from brands that met their access needs, 81% would recommend them to others, and 57% said they would spend more.

Mike Adams, Founder of Purple Tuesday, said: “This report speaks to the lived experience of so many disabled customers. I can see and hear my voice around the unnecessary barriers put in place by businesses who don’t understand the power of the Purple Pound and the straightforward solutions that can be put in place to unlock the disability market.

“It is exactly the reason I set up Purple Tuesday: to support businesses to better understand both digital and physical accessibility and provide disabled people with a good customer experience, which is the key to brand loyalty.

“The report sets out the issues and clear recommendations for businesses wanting to go on their own inclusive journey. As a disabled customer, I am asking you to read and adopt the recommendations. It makes commercial and social common sense.”

The research highlighted examples of businesses making progress on accessibility, including M&S, Primark, Tesco, IKEA, Co-op and Auto Trader. It concluded that disabled consumers continue to face barriers that are predictable, avoidable and widespread across everyday services.

Accessory and gift store The Finishing Touch, which has been a fixture in Abingdon’s Stert Street for more than two decades, has announced it will close at the end of July.

Owner Esther Hall, who ran the shop with her daughter Georgia, said the years they spent trading in Abingdon were ‘fabulous’ and thanked customers who made their ‘little dream a roaring success’.

Mum and daughter duo Esther Hall (right) and Georgia, who ran the store together (Image: Contributed)

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Mrs Hall said: “Over the 23 years of having our business in Abingdon we have very much enjoyed every minute of it.

“It has been a pleasure to have our store in a lovely town such as Abingdon, and most importantly our amazing customers and business neighbours.

“We are extremely grateful to all our lovely customers and colleagues, past and present, who have made our family business so successful over our years of trading.

“Christmas has been our most favourite time of the year and we loved creating magical displays for all to enjoy. 

A Christmas display at the store, owner Esther Hall’s ‘favourite time of year’ (Image: Contributed)

“We are sad to be leaving but know it is the right time for myself and my daughter.

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“I will be getting ready to retire so I can spend much needed time with family and friends and to take a well earned rest.

“My daughter Georgia is continuing her career in retail and is very much excited to take on her next challenge.”

The duo announced a closing down sale would start on Tuesday, May 26, with 25 per cent off all full price items, and gift vouchers and credit notes can be redeemed up until the closure.

The University of Lincoln has won a Silver Gilt medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for its RoboCrops exhibit, centred on an AI-based plant analysis system called PhenAIx.

Created by the university and its Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology, the exhibit features PhenAIx, which examines plants for signs of disease risk, environmental stress and growth performance before visible symptoms appear. Researchers presented it as a robotic phenotyping platform combining artificial intelligence, imaging tools and robotics.

The award places an agricultural robotics project among the notable displays in Chelsea’s GreenSTEM zone, where science and technology sit alongside horticulture. The attraction drew interest from visitors and policymakers during the show.

Plant analysis

Developers describe PhenAIx as a diagnostic scanner for plants, designed to detect hidden indicators in crops earlier than growers could through visual inspection alone.

The approach reflects a broader push in agriculture to use machine vision and automation to improve crop monitoring. Earlier identification of disease or stress can help growers isolate plants, adjust growing conditions or change treatment plans before losses spread.

The system could also contribute to developing stronger, more climate-resilient crops. The university linked the technology to efforts to improve food production and support more sustainable agricultural systems.

Beyond factories

The exhibit also highlights a shift in how robotics is presented to the public. Rather than focusing on industrial or warehouse settings, it places autonomous systems in a biological environment where variables are harder to control and outcomes less predictable.

That matters because farming has become an important test case for robotics and AI. Weather, soil, disease pressure and other changing conditions make agriculture a more complex setting than many conventional automation tasks.

Visitors included London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who discussed how systems such as PhenAIx could be applied to food production and climate-related pressures. No further details were given on any deployment timetable or commercial rollout.

Education focus

Organisers also pointed to strong interest from school groups visiting the show. The mix of robotics, AI, biology and environmental science appeared to make the exhibit an effective demonstration of how digital tools are being applied in food and farming research.

That educational role is becoming increasingly significant for universities and research institutes. Agricultural technology has often struggled to attract broad public attention compared with consumer-facing AI products, even as the sector faces pressure to raise productivity, reduce environmental impact and respond to climate volatility.

The university said it hoped the exhibit would encourage more young people, especially those from rural and agricultural backgrounds, to consider careers in robotics, data science and agri-tech. The ambition reflects a wider effort across the sector to build a workforce that combines software, engineering and plant science.

The medal is likely to give the project greater visibility beyond academic and specialist farming circles. Chelsea remains one of the UK’s best-known horticultural events, and recognition there offers research-led projects a way to reach audiences that might not usually engage with agricultural automation.

Researchers behind the exhibit said systems such as PhenAIx could support earlier crop disease detection, environmental monitoring, climate adaptation and more sustainable farming methods. At the heart of the display is a machine intended to show that plant health can be assessed before damage is visible to the human eye.