Information Architecture and Mobile Accessibility in Digital Stores: A Scoping Review of Navigation, Usability, and Barriers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64747/mrp6b983Keywords:
information architecture, mobile accessibility, user experience, e-commerce, usabilityAbstract
Introduction: In a digital store, adaptation to small screens does not ensure that people can understand the structure, locate products, operate controls, complete forms, or pay with assistive technology. Information architecture and mobile accessibility converge in task performance, although they are often evaluated separately. Objective: To map evidence published through November 30, 2025, on the relationship between information architecture, mobile accessibility, and user experience in e-commerce and comparable transactional services. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following PRISMA-ScR and JBI guidance. Four reproducible Crossref searches retrieved 200 records; 197 were unique, 167 passed a broad thematic filter, 32 reports were assessed, and 20 studies were included. Evidence was stratified into direct commerce, adjacent transactional services, and methods/syntheses. Results: Seven studies addressed direct commerce, seven adjacent services, and six evaluation methods. Recurrent barriers involved contrast and legibility, labels and alternative text, focus and operation, touch targets, forms, navigation, mobile responsiveness, and performance. Being mobile-friendly coexisted with accessibility violations. One systematic mapping reported that automated tests covered fewer than 40% of web problem types and fewer than 20% in apps; expert inspections and evaluations with disabled users identified additional problems. Direct evidence jointly addressing information architecture, WCAG, task performance, and assistive technology remained scarce. Conclusions: Responsible assessment of digital stores requires triangulating automated audits, manual inspection, and user task testing while separating technical conformance, findability, and lived experience. A minimum indicator set is proposed for search, comparison, authentication, and checkout journeys. Evidence is insufficient to estimate a single causal effect of accessibility on conversion.
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