Checkers has updated its excellent Sixty60 app to make the service more user-friendly for blind and visually impaired people – after local organisation Blind SA approached the retailer with a list of improvements. The Sixty60 team listened, did their own research on accessibility, and have now implemented the first batch of enhancements. Many of these features use the phone’s own ability to read aloud, or what’s known as voice-overs.
“This makes a major difference in the life of a blind person,” says Christo de Klerk, President of Blind SA, as he demonstrates how the app reads the names of items to him and lets him select them and add them to the app’s basket. “When the voice-over speaks that item, it has focus. And then you can interact with it by swiping or tapping.”
“There are not many apps that can claim this degree of accessibility,” he adds.
After the Sixty60 app relaunched in October 2024, nonprofit organisation Blind SA met with the app’s development team to discuss certain issues that the visually impaired community were concerned about.
“Since the app update of January 2025, it is much more accessible. Not only did Checkers Sixty60 make technical enhancements on the app, but they also invested in upskilling their developers, product owners and testers on accessibility paradigms and tools, embedding a critical skillset and awareness in the team,” says De Klerk.
“Checkers serves as a role model for other companies in their commitment to engage with blind users and improving their app for blind and partially sighted shoppers.”
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The accessibility enhancements massively reduce the barriers of entry on the Sixty60 app, making it easier for blind users to be onboarded and offering much greater control of “product cards” in the app, which can be added to a basket or read aloud.
User-created shopping lists can now be independently edited by a blind user, too, while the app’s search functionality is now fully accessible. The order summary and basket summary screens have also seen accessibility improvements, as has the ‘Edit My Details’ Section.
Checkers isn’t calling it a day there, either. Users can expect a whole lot more accessible functionality to be addressed “soon”, including a new method for blind or visually-impaired users to hear basket total and savings amounts directly from the navigation bar. That’s on top of new abilities that’ll make it easier to adjust the quantities in their baskets, potentially with a smile swipe gesture.
“Although it has not been possible to iron out all accessibility issues as yet, Checkers remains in constant communication with Blind SA. My hope is that other retailers will be as willing to improve their accessibility to ensure equal access for all,” said Nicole Roos from Blind SA’s advocacy and information committee.
