A question about Accessible Shopping Carts

Hello All,

I would first like to thank Shawn Henry for inviting us to participate in
the WAI discussions. I'm impressed with the great work accomplished by the
organization and look forward to its future success.

I have a question for the group which I believe is mission critical in
convincing large companies and retailers, in particular, to make their Web
sites accessible. Over the past several years my corporation has invested in
the design and implementation of a fully accessible Comparison Shopping Site
www.empowereveryone.com which is now live and serving our community of
individuals with disabilities. The site presents over 25 million products in
accessible format compliant with W3C and Section 508 best practices.
However, once the shopper has found a desired product and transitions to the
retailers Web page, the shopping experience can be difficult due to lack of
accessibility of the retail site or the lack of an accessible shopping cart.
My question is; does anyone know of a shopping cart that is fully
accessible?  

I believe if we can deliver a shopping cart that is accessible as an option
along with EmpowerEveryone.com, we would give the thousands of retailers who
are currently providing millions of products on our service the motivation
to seriously consider the nominal cost to make their sites accessible and to
utilize an accessible shopping cart.  In this tough economy these retailers
are desperately searching to increase market share, and the ROI to add
accessibility should be an easy sell especially if we can show the source of
the buying audience. 

The bottom line is money talks; and, the consolidated buying power of our
population with disabilities, the aging population, the communities that
support them as well as state, local and federal government procurement,
reflects billions of dollars these retailers are missing out on.  We now
provide the gateway, or single source shopping mall, to find almost any type
of product in accessible format.  If we can also offer a checkout process
that allows for the completion of the sale we leave little, if any, logical
reason for an e-Commerce Web site to ignore accessibility.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated,

Sincerely,

Michael Dorety
CEO
www.empowereveryone.com 
mdorety@empowereveryone.com
Office 941 921 2005
Mobile 941 928 8615