Xero Integration With A WooCommerce WordPress Website Or Online Payment App

What is Xero? A Quick Refresher

Xero is an easy to use online accounting software tailored for small businesses. Built as a cloud-based software, you can access real-time data from a mobile or laptop as long as you have an internet connection. The software covers invoicing, paying bills, sales tax returns, reporting, and is growing in capabilities as its popularity surges.

Since launching in 2006, they have now grown to 2 million+ subscribers who use their service. They also topped the list in Forbes magazine as one of the “100 most innovative growth companies”. So they’re a pretty safe bet if you’re looking for a flexible accounting software. They also topped the list in Forbes magazine as one of the “100 most innovative growth companies”. So they’re a pretty safe bet if you’re looking for flexible accounting software to simplify your business operations.

Why Integrate Xero With Your Website?

As a cloud-based software, there is immense potential in integrating with your online store or business workflow, to streamline your processes and better utilise the data between your various systems. Integrations can link up the start and end of your sales processes from covering shopping cart completions, shipping information, inventory management, payroll and sales tax.

Consolidating all these databases into one dashboard will make it easier for you and your sales team, lowering operational costs dramatically in the long term. These are the questions you can ask yourself

• Am I spending too much time logging into different systems to extract information?
• Is my company ready to expand into overseas markets on a more global scale?
• Has my business grown a lot and is it using multiple systems to track accounting, inventory, payment shipping and tracking?

What Is The Difference Between a Xero Add-on And A Separate Integration?

Xero has already built extra tools which are out-of-the-box add-ons which work well with its base service. These include

• Xero Projects
• Xero Practice Manager
• Hubdoc
• Workflowmax

They have also partnered with a few key software providers such as Microsoft Outlook, Mailchimp and Hubspot. These add-ons by Xero are developed and tested by the Xero team and thus potentially more restrictive depending on your software requirements. 

Integrations are often developed by third party developers or agencies who customise the connections depending on the software your business currently uses and how you envision the two working together.

What Kind Of Data Can be Mapped?

Xero’s data is organised into 5 primary categories, which include Assets, Expenses, Equity, Liabilities and Revenue, and can be coded to feed directly into different data points. Within these categories, you can further refine which information you import and export, such as Contacts, Invoices, Bank Transactions and Reports.

You can either sync up individual sections of your sales funnel, or every part of the chain, depending on your budget, how much you want to customise and how important it is to streamline your process. Simplifying all your different databases into one means you can access all your information from one dashboard and generate a holistic report, instead of analysing and drawing connections manually.

A Few Examples Of How Integrations Can Pair With Xero’s Data

• Streamline your payments so invoices automatically flow into Xero
• Batch invoices to be sent together rather than individually
• Export invoices and allow automatic pairing with preset contacts & customer info
• Automatically send invoices when sales orders are approved or completed
• Track cost of goods sold from your inventory
• Get Slack alert messages to your sales team for new Xero invoices
• Automatically create Xero invoices for new WooCommerce orders
• Pair with Google Sheets so you can export data-rich CSVs into other systems

Other Competitors On the Market To Consider

Whilst this startup experienced exponential growth as a result of filling a large gap in the market, there are still quite a few other competitors you can also consider.

QuickBooks

Interestingly enough, they actually came before Xero. They cover the ability to do your invoicing, expenses, bills, reporting, and also offer pre-built integrations with a variety of software. They are the market leader in the US, whilst Xero holds the market share in Europe and New Zealand. Quickbooks is more tailored for freelancers and small businesses, whilst Xero is tailored to medium sized companies (50 – 1000 employees).

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Whilst Xero is perfect for new business owners and startups who don’t have a strong or existing accounting background, Dynamics 365 is more suited to people who already know how to manage and maintain CRMs. This would be a suitable alternative to consider if you are currently using Microsoft technology.

NetSuite

NetSuite is classified in the ‘Enterprise Resource Planning’ ERP category of the technology stack, whilst Xero’s strengths still stem from ‘Accounting’. Whilst Xero is very customisable in its add-ons, NetSuite offers a more complete system in its base which include accounting, CRM, inventory management and eCommerce. This disparity is reflected in the pricing, with NetSuite starting from $499 per month and Xero starting from $30 per month (for its standard model).

How Can Xero Help You As A Business Owner

There are many demands and roles required of a business owner. As your operations grow and scale, if you can simplify your compliance responsibilities and automate the mundane processes, you can spend more time working on your business with your specialist knowledge.

With Xero integrating into your CRM or eCommerce platform, you can organise your end-to-end sales processes and accounting activities into one dashboard, with the data flowing seamlessly from one point to another.

How We Can Help

If you have any questions in regards to Xero integrations or what’s right for you, feel free to have a chat with our team on 03 9912 6403. With specialised backend developers, building integrations or connecting plug-ins are a couple web services we’re well-versed in. We love seeing how automation transforms our clients’ workflow, and believe you will too.