Finally, Xero Acquires an Inventory Management Software Add-on in the US

Xero Accounting software offers inventory management features in their standard software but it has never been spectacular for companies where solid inventory management matters.

I saw that first hand when I was speaking with the owner of a Boating Sales, Repair and Retail business. That business ended up migrating AWAY from Xero and started using QuickBooks Online instead. This changes everything.

Perhaps Xero’s latest acquisition will help them LEAPFROG all others, particularly seeing how well it works with e-commerce and global shopping leaders like Amazon and Walmart as well as e-commerce powerhouses, Magento and WooCommerce.

When more shopping is going online and companies of all sizes who sell products are migrating to systems that can help them manage every aspect of their business. Inventory is not something that I have a huge amount of experiences with but when you read some of the features of this software you understand how complicated it can be.

Picking capabilities in LOCATE are incredibly powerful and customizable. Picking can be done in waves by order, part, customer, or even line item. Pick plans can be automatically generated to ensure oldest stock is picked first, and a pick path can be established to guide pickers more efficiently around the warehouse.

Locate Inventory website

Xero’s Platform Acquisitions

Xero has become so prolific with their acquisitions that it’s clear they want to earn their future revenue as a platform not just accounting software. In fact if you look at their latest financials and report to shareholders you’ll see their revenue from “platform” services is increasing quickly (although from a smaller base).

Some of the other notable acquisitions are WorkflowMax, Hubdoc and Planday. Each of these programs enables Xero to earn more of the income from popular (and more complex integrations) as their software solution almost starts looking like an Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP).

Locate Inventory Caters to the ERP Market

If this latest acquisition isn’t a clear sign to Sage and other larger accounting software programs I am not sure what else would. Xero displaced MYOB as the most popular accounting program in Australia because of their online only strategy and they scared Sage into creating Sage One for small businesses.

Now they have the bigger ERP’s in their targets and they seem to be buying just the right complimentary software to beef up in areas where they were lacking.

When we explored the website of their latest acquisition we saw and interest table that compares where this newest Inventory and Workflow Software you can clearly see they can cater to the big end of town.

Xero Add-ons, Apps and Integrations

We’ve just released the Xero Add-ons, Apps and Integrations Introduction course to help students understand which popular Addons are used to serve the different functions that businesses are looking for.

It looks like Xero are going to be keeping us on our toes with many new software programs to include in the near future!

See what is included in the Xero Integrations, Addons and Apps Introduction Course