WineDirect Completes a Website Accessibility Audit

I am thrilled to announce that WineDirect has successfully completed a comprehensive third-party audit certifying that our ecommerce platform meets the internationally-recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

These guidelines are referenced when interpreting legislation around the world including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Australian Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and the Canadian Policy on Communications and Federal Identity.

The audit was executed by Accessible360, a leader in website and technology accessibility auditing. We specifically chose to partner with Accessible360 because they employ live-user testing instead of relying solely on automated screening tools. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first and only winery ecommerce platform to undergo such an audit.

After extensive testing and updates by the WineDirect team, Accessible360 has awarded us a Letter of Digital Accessibility Conformance affirming that:

• Live-user accessibility testers were able to successfully access, use, and navigate the website.
• Live-user accessibility testers did not encounter any accessibility blockers that would deny a user using assistive technology from accessing the main content and functionality as of our Quality Assurance testing on July 25, 2019.
• The website substantially conforms with Level A and Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0.
• WineDirect has addressed all issues that are in our control and is actively working with third party vendors to remediate any external issues, ensuring the vendor is aware of the accessibility barriers.

In addition, WineDirect has retained Accessible360 to provide ongoing accessibility monitoring. With this monitoring in place, Accessible360 will perform ongoing accessibility testing and monitoring of selected elements of the website, including live-user testing on a twice annual basis.

> For additional details, action items and FAQs, please visit our Documentation Site.

This audit is an example of our ongoing commitment to your winery's security and compliance, from accessibility to data privacy and beyond. We do this because we know that these issues are important to you and can be hugely disruptive if not managed proactively.

In addition to this audit, we also undergo quarterly third-party PCI compliance scans and, through our integration with ShipCompliant, we make it easy for you to manage your tax and shipping compliance. In addition, we understand the importance of data privacy and continue to invest in resources to ensure the protection of your (and your customers’) data.

We continue to monitor the industry and invest in best-in-class technology and processes to further this goal and will keep you updated as developments arise. In the meantime, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients for your continued trust and partnership. We look forward to supporting you for many years to come.

And if you aren’t yet using WineDirect for your DTC sales needs, I hope you’ll get in touch to learn more about how we can enable your business for success.