Xero launches business software marketplace

Xero unveiled a new business software marketplace at the Xerocon partners conference in Sydney, giving small businesses and their advisors a new way to easily find the right add-on solutions.

The Xero ecosystem has grown by more than 35 per cent in the past year to more than 350 business solutions covering areas such as point of sale, inventory management and job costing, leveraging Xero’s accounting platform.

Xero CEO Rod Drury said software developers are spending millions of dollars developing fantastic applications to make life easier for small business owners.

“The success of the Xero ecosystem meant we needed to rethink how small businesses and their advisors discover the best solutions for them,” Drury said.

“The add-on marketplace is the next evolution in small business software showcasing all of Xero’s add-on partners and their unique solutions to our more than 330,000 global customers.

“There are 42,000 active installations of add-ons in use – a 280 per cent increase in the last year.  And, last month alone, there were over 60,000 visits generated from our marketplace to our add-on partners, a 28 per cent increase in the last year.

“We’ve created the most vibrant global ecosystem for small business software. Now our customers can easily identify add-on solutions that fit their business’s specific requirements, then connect that to the accounting data.”

Drury said Xero’s add-on ecosystem will always welcome new add-on partners to our ecosystem.

“Our estimated annual revenue generated from add-ons connected to Xero is already over NZ$33 million and we are seeing hundreds of new jobs created,” Drury said.

“We’re thrilled to see the investment being made by hundreds of business software startups that will make life better for small business owners all over the world.”

Earlier this year, Forbes magazine recognised this global innovation, heralding Xero the ‘World’s most innovative growth company’.

The marketplace shows add-on ratings and reviews, so everyone knows which add-ons work well for different situations.

“The add-on ecosystem has become an integral part of our customers’ experience so we wanted to make sure that we evolve the marketplace as it grows,” Australian Managing Director Chris Ridd said.

“Now our customers can search more easily for industry-specific solutions suiting anything from a small winery to a booming inventory business. We have plenty more updates planned for the marketplace in future.”

eWAY Founder and CEO Matt Bullock said: “We are extremely proud to be a part of the add-on ecosystem, and we were thrilled to be recognised as the 2013 Add-on Partner of the Year in NZ. 

“We processed over $3.4 billion of transactions last year, and we are on track to process over $5 billion this year. The connection between the invoice and payment is critical, this is what changes how quickly people get paid, and ultimately, changes lives.”

Deputy CTO Ashik Ahmed said: “Xero provides a fantastic small business platform and this add-on directory is a natural progression for the business owner's journey to the cloud.

“When we launched our add-on listing with Xero in 2012 it counted for 50 per cent of our sales. We are very proud to be part of the next evolution of add-on directory and the new opportunities that are awaiting the add-on ecosystem”.

Xero recently crossed NZ$100m in annualised revenue and has over 900 staff.

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Marina Holmes

Senior PR & Social Manager

0416 663 396

Xero is beautiful, easy-to-use online accounting software for small businesses and their advisors. The company has over 300,000 paying customers in more than 100 countries around the world. Xero seamlessly integrates with over 300 best-in-class business tools, and was recently ranked No. 1 by Forbes as the World's Most Innovative Growth Company.