Fishbowl is the platform Xero users add once spreadsheets and manual counts stop keeping pace: Fishbowl Inventory for finished-goods operations, Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing for shop floors running BOMs and work orders, Fishbowl Advanced Warehouse for 3PL and EDI depth. Xero keeps the books. Fishbowl runs the operation.
Xero is good at what it was built for: ledgers, invoices, bank reconciliation. It was never built to tell you how many units sit in bin C-14, whether a purchase order needs to go out today, or what a work order is waiting on. So a lot of Xero users end up running a second system nobody chose on purpose, usually a spreadsheet somebody updates by hand, sometimes twice, sometimes not at all before the shipment goes out wrong.
The cost shows up in three familiar places. Orders get delayed because nobody can confirm stock without a phone call to the warehouse. Staff burn hours re-entering counts, chasing down a purchase order that lives in someone's inbox, or reconciling a Xero balance that does not match what is actually on the shelf. And the business carries more inventory than it needs, because when nobody trusts the number, the safe move is to buy extra and hope.
Most software shows you the problem and leaves you the work.
Fishbowl is the platform. Fishbowl Inventory, Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing, and Fishbowl Advanced Warehouse are purpose-built parts of Fishbowl, matched to how the business runs. Fishbowl runs inventory, production, and the warehouse. Xero keeps the books.
Which Fishbowl product fits your business
Xero users asking this question usually fall into one of a few groups, and the fit test is about what the business does, not how big it is.
If you buy finished goods and resell them, Fishbowl Inventory handles receiving, stocking, picking, transfers, and fulfillment. Add Fishbowl Channels when those products sell through Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, or other channels. If you manufacture the product and need BOMs, work orders, MRP, production scheduling, or job and labor costing, use Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing, with Channels added if you also sell online. If you do not manufacture but need deeper warehouse workflows such as 3PL management or EDI-driven fulfillment, use Fishbowl Advanced Warehouse. Multiple storefronts or owned locations alone do not automatically mean you need Advanced.
Light assembly counts as manufacturing work even when it is one step: kitting a bundle, attaching a label, boxing a set. That runs fine on Fishbowl Inventory. The line for Advanced is complexity, not scale: multi-level bills of materials, shared components across several work orders, supplier lead times you have to plan around, and shifting demand that makes purchasing unreliable by hand.
What the AI Operations Specialist does inside Fishbowl Inventory
Fishbowl Inventory and Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing both include data-focused AI that tells you what is happening, what is coming, and what needs your attention, in plain English, from your own data. On Advanced, that means demand patterns, stockout risk, and reporting that used to take a spreadsheet and an afternoon. On Fishbowl Inventory, cloud customers get that same visibility plus the AI Operations Specialist.
The AI Operations Specialist uses live Fishbowl data to prepare purchase orders, sales orders, transfers, receipts, and adjustments for your approval. Nothing is saved or changed without the operator's approval. Ask, approve, done. The AI Operations Specialist works from what is connected to Fishbowl, not every system you happen to run.
Brian Garrett at Telluric Companies, a beta tester, says the AI Operations Specialist saves him at least 45 minutes per purchase order. That is one workflow, purchase orders, and it is the only named AI Operations Specialist result we will put in writing until more data comes in. See more on the case studies page at fishbowlinventory.com.
Selling through Shopify, Amazon, or Walmart on top of Xero
A lot of Xero users are also running an online store, and the multichannel problem is bigger than counting units. It is mismatched SKUs across platforms, product details and pricing that drift out of sync, orders scattered across three or four inboxes, marketplace fulfillment through FBA or WFS, shipping status nobody updates, and sync failures that surface only after a customer already noticed.
Fishbowl Channels is the channel-integrations layer. It works with Fishbowl Inventory, Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing, or Fishbowl Advanced Warehouse. Advanced customers add ecommerce channels in Fishbowl; they do not also purchase Fishbowl Inventory.
Channels imports orders into Fishbowl and publishes updated availability back out to each connected channel, on a schedule rather than a constant live feed. That gives you a single source of truth for available inventory across storefronts, which cuts the odds of overselling without pretending overselling becomes impossible. Shopify stays your store. Fishbowl is the operation behind it: catalog, product and image sync, fulfillment, carrier integrations, and reporting. Accounting stays in QuickBooks or Xero, working from one shared count instead of three disconnected ones.
What the switch actually costs and saves
We will not publish dollar figures here, because pricing depends on modules, users, and how many locations you run, and that is a conversation for a demo, not a blog post. What we can tell you is what the software removes and what customers on the record say it changed.
For businesses recommending Fishbowl Inventory or Fishbowl Channels, the cleared result is Telluric's 45 minutes saved per purchase order with the AI Operations Specialist, in the PO workflow specifically. For businesses that need Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing or Fishbowl Advanced Warehouse, named results look different: Hodo Foods cut stockouts by 35% using Advanced plus data-focused AI. Koken USA reduced backorders by 10% on Advanced. Cascadia Motion lowered inventory costs by 18% using Advanced plus data-focused AI. Each of those is an Advanced result, and each is attributed to the customer who produced it. More detail lives on the case studies page at fishbowlinventory.com.
Training runs expert-led, typically 6 to 8 weeks, scoped to your locations and SKU count. Support stays in-house: US experts for US customers, APAC experts for APAC customers, by phone, email, or chat. Customers can reach a person.
Fishbowl does the work. You make the call.
Frequently asked questions
Does Xero do inventory and manufacturing on its own?
Xero tracks basic quantities and posts journal entries, but it was not built to run purchasing, work orders, multi-location transfers, or shop-floor production. Most Xero users hit a wall with spreadsheets or manual counts once order volume or manufacturing complexity grows, and that is when a dedicated inventory or manufacturing system like Fishbowl becomes worth the switch.
Will I lose Xero if I add Fishbowl?
No. Xero keeps the books. Fishbowl runs inventory, production, and the warehouse and syncs the operational transactions back to Xero, so the accounting side of the business stays exactly where it is today.
How long does it take to get running on Fishbowl?
Onboarding is expert-led and typically runs 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the number of locations, SKUs, and integrations involved. Support is in-house, with US-based experts for US customers and APAC support for APAC customers, available by phone, email, and chat.
Do I need Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing if I only assemble kits?
Not automatically. Light assembly can run fine on Fishbowl Inventory. Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing is the right fit once you need multi-level BOMs, work orders, MRP, production scheduling, or job and labor costing tied to what you build.
See how Fishbowl fits alongside Xero at fishbowlinventory.com, or get a walkthrough scoped to your product line and your Xero setup: get a demo.