E-Commerce is a big deal. Millions of companies worldwide sell tangible or digital products online to customers everywhere. To do so, they’re using a variety of platforms. These include WooCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, Amazon, Etsy, and many others. With these web-based channels, they can reach shoppers that they would have never been able to with a brick-and-mortar operation.
Indeed, E-Commerce has opened up endless possibilities for businesses, large and small. Perhaps you’ve discovered the advantages already. But with E-Commerce comes lots of other challenges, like bookkeeping. If you use Shopify, for example, have you considered the best way to keep track of all the money and product going out or coming in? Have you gotten bogged down by entering everything manually? Has using E-Commerce seemingly cost you lots of extra time and money?
Maybe it’s time to consider connecting your E-Commerce platform to QuickBooks by “integrating” the two. The integration allows the data from the E-Commerce platform to feed directly into QuickBooks, eliminating the need to enter sales details manually.
Reasons for Integration
There are several solid reasons for connecting Shopify, WooCommerce, or other platforms to your QuickBooks account.
- Save time over manual data entry – Manually entering every dollar you spend and earn into QuickBooks is hugely time-consuming, whether using a program like Google Sheets or doing the old-fashioned thing with a paper ledger. It’s easy to lose track of something or to get behind in your work when all you’re tracking manually. If, instead, your E-Commerce account info automatically exports directly to QuickBooks; you can be sure your numbers will be accurate. You’ll also save tons of time.
- Inventory tracking is more accurate – What do customers want? They want their order NOW, and they want it to be accurate. That means your record keeping, especially your inventory tracking, needs to be spot-on. You don’t want to sell more orders than you can fulfill. That will alienate customers. But when you integrate with QuickBooks, sales info exports directly to the program, so you’ll always know what’s available and when.
- Returns are simpler – Every business has to deal with returns. As online shopping continues to grow, data shows that an estimated 20-40 percent of items ordered head back to the “store” for one reason or another. So, making returns easy is essential. Integrating your E-Commerce platform with QuickBooks lets you quickly locate any sale and expedite returns. You save time and money, AND the customer will be satisfied.
- Tax returns will be easier to compile – No accountant enjoys getting a shoebox full of receipts or a bunch of hand-written ledgers. Instead, you can share your QuickBooks data with your accountant. Or on the other hand, being so organized might mean you don’t need an accountant. Integrating your E-Commerce platform with QuickBooks saves time and money at tax time.
- Product Listings will improve – When you sync Shopify or WooCommerce with QuickBooks, you can use the product database feature for accuracy. The database makes it easy to create listing information for each product. That includes titles, category tags, description text, images, and more. It also ensures that the names and other information are consistent between your storefront and all reports generated by QuickBooks.
How do I do it?
Are you convinced connecting your E-Commerce and QuickBooks might be advantageous to your business? Then it’s time to sync them!
To do this, you or your website builder can download an integration app to make the magic happen. QuickBooks offers such apps as many E-Commerce platforms, such as Shopify’s QuickBooks Bridge. There are also third-party applications available, such as QuickBooks Sync by Bold. Ask your web expert at Watershed9 which would work best for your business.
For more information on integration apps as well as other issues concerning your E-Commerce or QuickBooks capabilities, call us at 604-337-1449.