Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 26.09.2025 
DotCentric share their UK eCommerce Awards-nominated work and expertise.
We’re thrilled to share that DotCentric has been shortlisted for “Accessible eCommerce Website of the Year” at the UK eCommerce Awards for our work with Karndean Designflooring.
Being recognised for this category means a lot to our team. It confirms what we stand for: accessibility enhances customer experiences and supports businesses performance.
About DotCentric
DotCentric is an evidence-guided, outcome-driven digital experience partner. We design, build, and optimise business-critical B2C and B2B eCommerce websites. With long-standing platform partnerships (including Optimizely DXP and Umbraco), our team blends user research, UX/UI design, engineering, and experimentation to deliver measurable impact.
Fragmented digital experiences
Karndean Designflooring is a global leader in luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring with audiences across the UK, North America, Europe, and Australia. Customers include homeowners and trade professionals (interior designers, architects, contractors). Karndean legacy digital estate was fragmented and hard to manage for its digital teams. Key journeys no longer met modern accessibility and usability standards.
Our brief was clear: reimagine the global B2C and B2B web experiences with accessibility and user experience at the core, with the goal of scaling across regions and internal teams.
Combining accessibility with research and technology
We replatformed Karndean’s legacy platform to Optimizely DXP and built a user-led, accessible design system serving both consumer and trade. Grounded in WCAG 2.1 AA (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust), we embedded accessibility from discovery through wireframes, prototypes, and components to solve issues before code.
Our team combined technical audits with in-depth user research, including people with visual, motor, and cognitive impairments, to surface barriers in navigation, search, and product discovery. Insights informed everything from information architecture to micro-interactions.
Accessibility standards & practices
We designed for everyone from the start. Our practical standards and actions include typography, interactions, forms, and QA – making accessibility part of everyday work.
- Legibility & contrast: Generous typography (e.g., ~19px body), increased line height, higher-contrast palette; Ubuntu typeface for clarity.
- Predictable UX: Consistent layouts and navigation patterns to reduce cognitive load.
- Keyboard & screen reader support: Visible focus states (≥2px), semantic markup, skip links, ARIA roles.
- Accessible forms: Explicit labels, clear instructions, programmatically associated error messaging.
- Mobile & touch: Responsive layouts, touch targets ≥44×44px, no drag-only interactions.
- QA & governance: Automated tools (axe, Lighthouse, WAVE) plus manual testing (keyboard-only, screen readers, 200% zoom, high-contrast). CMS guardrails and team training embed accessibility into day-to-day publishing.
Digital experiences accessible for everyone
Our joint efforts with Kardean’s digital team delivered accessible journeys for all customers across global markets, with an accessible design system that scales for the organisation.
- Faster product discovery: Clearer taxonomy, an accessible product finder, and predictable navigation reduce friction and decision fatigue.
- Lower support demand: Noticeable reduction in support enquiries across markets, with improved self-service and task completion.
- Quicker publishing: Local teams create and manage content ~30% faster, keeping updates timely without sacrificing accessibility.
- Consistency at scale: The design system bakes in WCAG 2.1 AA best practices across B2C and B2B.
“We have been delighted with the outcome of the re-design of our web platform. DotCentric led the research and design for us, as well as the build, which meant all stakeholders on both sides had a comprehensive understanding of what was needed and why. Insights from the research were essential to the design of the site and internally we were able to use the insights to get the necessary buy-in from key stakeholders. We now have a new set of websites that work well for our consumers, as well as the Karndean business.”
Megan Haywood
Group Services Director, Karndean Designflooring
Accessibility builds trust, expands reach, improves conversion, and reduces operational overheads. For a global brand with diverse audiences, It’s the difference between a site that works and a digital platform that supports confident decision-making for every customer.
If you’re looking to offer more accessible experiences to your customers and deliver measurable impact, connect with us today.
