How to Integrate Xero and Shopify for Efficient eCommerce Accounting?

When running an e-commerce business, the priority is usually product fit and marketing, and the last is accounting and bookkeeping. However, if profitability and cash flow are not tracked from the onset – this can harm your business. Here we discuss how you can connect your Shopify store to Xero to make Accounting seamless. Shopify (e-commerce software) and Xero (cloud accounting software) are similar in that they both allow integrations with other third-party software to save you time and money. They also integrate giving you, the business owner a win-win situation and can remove the need for many tedious and time-consuming jobs usually needed to keep your accounts updated.

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About Xero

Xero is an award-winning cloud accounting software that has helped millions of business owners worldwide take charge of their finances, and it can help you too. Xero also provides free, unlimited support to registered users and the Xero Community allows users to share experiences and tips with other Xero users. If you’re concerned about navigating through the software, don’t be. The Xero Dashboard displays all of your key financial information and puts everything you need within easy reach – most features are only a click or two away.

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About Shopify

Shopify is a popular hosted e-commerce platform that allows small business owners to quickly and easily set up and sell online. Track orders, accept credit card payments and organize your products, all with just a few clicks.

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Streamlined Accounting

Integrating Shopify and Xero means that all of your orders can be synced regularly, removing the need for you to manually enter them into your accounting system. The chances of duplicating entries can be reduced by syncing exactly what’s in Shopify and reducing the chance of human error when entering data. This should make your accounts streamlined and easy to analyze. As well as syncing your sales with Xero you can also sync returns data - making adjusting your accounts for returns much simpler and allowing you to see all of your sales and returns in one easy-to-access place, rather than being fragmented. You can also easily handle tax rates for multiple different countries, removing part of the headache of international selling. Xero will automatically set up tax agencies based on the orders you import from Shopify.

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Insightful Reporting

Once the integration between Xero and Shopify is established, all of your sales data is easily manageable and accessible, making reporting and analysis so much simpler. Being able to import your sales data into Xero daily means you can always monitor the most up-to-date data in your Xero dashboard which will allow you to react to any potential issues much more quickly. You’ll also have access to sales data from manual entry, Shopify eCommerce, and even in-store orders (if you’re using Shopify POS) all in one place. So analyzing the performance of your different sales channels becomes a breeze. You can compare performance between channels and change how you allocate resources quickly and efficiently.

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Xero & Shopify Integration

Xero and Shopify are integrated via the Xero app and the following are just a few of the benefits & features of Xero integration with Shopify:

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• Automatically Import Orders and Customer Information into Xero in Real-Time
• Full, Comprehensive Tax Support - the US and Canada Sales Tax and County/Municipal/Provincial Tax, Australian & New Zealand GST, UK & European VAT, etc.
• Automatically Apply Payments to Invoices created
• Automatically Imports Payment Fees (feature available for most payment providers, including Shopify Payments/Stripe and PayPal)
• Full Support for Shopify POS
• Automatically Imports/Matches Products
• Automatically Imports/Matches Customers
• Compatible with Tracked Inventory - stock of tracked items is reduced accordingly when invoices are approved (two-way inventory synchronization coming soon)
• Multiple Currency Support
• Set Xero Sales Account (Nominal Code) According to Product Type
• Set Xero Tracking Category Options
• Full Support for Shopify Discount Vouchers and Coupons
• Special Support for Gift Cards
• Invoices are intelligently matched to existing customer records or new customer records are created on the fly.
• Reconcile payments from Xero's PayPal Importer and Bank Feeds with your invoices.

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So how difficult is the process of integrating Xero with Shopify? The following are the simple steps required:

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1. Sign up for CarryTheOne's integration service (to integrate with Shopify)
2. Proceed to create your CarryTheOne Control Panel account
3. From your Control Panel account, click 'add a new integration'
4. Select Shopify as the export app and follow the instructions to connect to Shopify
5. Once Shopify is connected, you will then be taken to Xero. Enter your login details and click to authorize the integration.
6. After authorization, you will be taken to CarryTheOne's Configuration Panel where you can configure your integration (contextual help is provided)

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Summary

Integrating Shopify with Xero is fast and seamless. Both companies are focused on bringing great benefits to businesses and addressing your day-to-day needs, so they make fantastic partners. Together, Shopify and Xero can make running your e-commerce business easier and allow you to focus on what matters to you. If you would like to know more about Xero or would like to take up our discounted implementation offer, submit your contact details here and one of our consultants will be in touch.

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DISCLAIMER

This article is an extract from the Xero website and is written in general terms and therefore cannot be relied on to cover specific situations; application of the principles set out will depend upon the particular circumstances involved and we recommend that you obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from acting on any of its contents.

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