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The Covid-19 pandemic and extended lockdown in South Africa has challenged the continued survival of many businesses. Businesses forced to close and unable to follow “work from home” protocols suffered most, with employees hardest hit.
Ecommerce businesses such as Takealot were able to continue trading, albeit for essential goods only. Retailers such as Checkers were also key in delivering essentials, creating employment for its delivery team and keeping households functioning through the lockdown. This is an important takeaway – ecommerce businesses are at least somewhat insulated and the question that you should be asking for your business, is whether your products or at least a part of your services could be traded in an ecommerce environment.
If you are already using Xero Cloud Accounting, then the good news is that ecommerce is within reach due to API-driven integration apps and tools already available. Cloud solutions already exist for inventory management, development of the online shop and to manage payments. In this article, we touch on 3 apps to support your migration to ecommerce:
DEAR Inventory is an excellent inventory management tool.
- The platform is designed to help manage growing businesses in retail, wholesale and ecommerce.
- Once connected to Xero, DEAR becomes the business portal for managing all inventory-related purchases, sales and manufacturing, with synchronization to Xero in the form of invoices, bills and journal entries.
Ecwid Ecommerce is the leading app for the development of an online shop.
- Rated by industry experts as the best store for small businesses, Ecwid integrates with social media platform Facebook as well as any website including WordPress, GoDaddy, Wix & Squarespace.
- Once connected to Xero, Ecwid transfers orders to Xero automatically every 6 hours, ensuring a seamless experience between both platforms.
PayFast is the preferred payment portal for SA ecommerce.
- As a payment gateway, PayFast is unsurpassed in functionality and local support for a comparatively low-cost transaction fee.
- PayFast serves to manage payments of transactions conducted through Ecwid and offers secure online payment.
- Once connected to Xero, your customers also have the flexibility to settle accounts with you via Credit Card, Instant EFT and more.
- By adding a “Pay Now” link to invoices, customers have a convenient way to settle invoices due.
- Invoices settled via PayFast automatically reflect as paid in Xero.
- Payment records are seamlessly matched to customer records in Xero.
Our Cloud Accounting team is experienced in Xero and in the API integrations that the software supports. Working smarter and not harder is definitely possible using the correct tools for your business. Speak to one of our team members if your business is ready to enter ecommerce. Connect here.