Pronto ecommerce integration without mixing Connect and Avenue

The store already takes orders. Pronto Xi already holds products, pricing, and accounts. Pronto Connect and Pronto Avenue are not the same layer. We will tell you which API the webstore should use, and what still stays in Xi.

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Australian ecommerce team. We look at the store and the Pronto environment before anyone talks about a connector.

Still running a store that needs Pronto?

The store still takes orders. Pronto still holds the account price. That is why the two have been left talking through a nightly file, or through a project that never decided Connect versus Avenue.

Pronto Xi is a modular ERP — financials, operations, inventory, mobile — from Pronto Software, an Australian-owned developer, head office Forest Hill VIC, 45+ years. The vendor homepage claims “Proudly Australian owned”, “True cloud solution where all data remains in Australia”, “100,000+ Monthly Pronto Xi Users”, and (in Pronto collateral) trust from “over 1,500 Australian and global organisations”. Those are Pronto’s claims, not an independent census. We will not repeat 1,500 or 100,000 as if we audited them.

You might recognise one of these:

  • Web orders are re-keyed into Pronto because the last interface was XML and nobody owns it
  • Product, price, and stock on the site lag the ERP by more than a working day
  • Someone scoped “the Pronto API” without saying Connect or Avenue
  • Customer accounts on the store do not match Pronto debtors
  • Avenue was sold as the storefront layer, and you already have a CMS
  • Inventory looks right in Xi and wrong at checkout

You do not need a new brand, or a “move off Australian ERP” pitch. You need a clear read on the Pronto stack you already have.

Why these connections stall

Pronto publishes APIs. The stall is rarely “Xi cannot talk to a store”. It is which layer you bought, and what “typically two minutes” actually means for checkout.

Connect vs Avenue

REST + XML/JSON

Not the storefront

Vendor claims

Pronto Connect is not Pronto Avenue.

Pronto Connect is pre-built RESTful APIs plus a framework to build custom APIs — “industry standard web services”, XML or JSON. Pronto Avenue (“Pronto Connect ECommerce”) is a complementary HTTP API layer (JSON or XML) aimed at customers, categories, products, sales orders, shopping carts, inventory. Example Avenue routes include /api/(FORMAT)/product/v4, /order/v6, /pricing/v6. Vendor text says sync to Pronto Xi is “typically two minutes” and uses authenticated HTTP (Pronto Web Services). Avenue is an ecommerce / integration layer on top of Xi. It is not Xi. Scoping Connect versus Avenue is the first decision, not something to hide in a footnote.

Direct ERP writes and a middleware storefront are different jobs.

If you already run nopCommerce, AbleCommerce, Shopify, or another CMS, you may want Connect (or a custom API on that framework) for product, price, stock, accounts, and sales orders. Buying Avenue as a second storefront because “that is the ecommerce API” is how you end up with two carts. If Avenue is already the commerce layer, the job may be to leave it alone. That is a scoping conversation, not a moral one.

Auth and format are specified per layer.

Connect and Avenue both speak HTTP with XML or JSON. That does not make a single client. Versioned Avenue routes (product v4, order v6, pricing v6) are not interchangeable with a custom Connect API someone built for finance. A connector that “speaks Pronto” without the route list will pass a demo and fail the first real order.

Australian residency and tax are vendor positioning, not an integration pattern.

Pronto’s AU data-residency and STP messaging matter to buyers. They do not tell you which endpoint creates a sales order. We will not use “data remains in Australia” as a reason the mapping is easy.

None of that makes the item master or the store worthless. It does mean “turn on the Pronto ecommerce API on Monday” is not a specification.

How we work

We start with Xi, then Connect versus Avenue, then the store.

1

Look at what you have

Store platform, whether Avenue is already licensed, which Connect APIs exist, product / price / stock sources, and who owns customer accounts. We will tell you which layer the webstore should call — or whether it should call neither.

2

Decide the job

There are three honest outcomes. We recommend one, not all three.

3

Do the work in stages

Product, price, and stock reads first, then customer accounts, then sales orders. A non-production company beats a Friday order v6 into live Xi.

4

Hand it back so the next person can run it

Source, which layer and which route versions, and a short record of what creates an order.

Three honest outcomes

  • Connect the existing CMS store to Pronto via Connect, Avenue, or a custom API on the Connect framework — products, pricing, inventory, customers, sales orders. Custom work. No published CoSource Pronto case.
  • Fix a broken connector when an XML job or old Avenue route still almost works: move it onto the current route versions, stop the double cart, or stop treating Avenue as Xi.
  • Decide not to connect when Avenue already is the storefront, when a Pronto partner’s interface already owns the CMS, or when the site should stay brochure and orders should stay in Xi.

We will not tell you Avenue is Pronto Xi. We will not repeat 1,500 organisations as an audited figure. If your Pronto partner already has a supported commerce interface, they may be the better first call on the ERP side. If you want an honest fork in the road on the store, talk to us.

What we need for the first call

A store URL and which Pronto company is enough to start.

  • Which store: nopCommerce, AbleCommerce, Shopify, or another CMS — or Avenue already acting as the store
  • Whether Pronto Connect, Avenue, or both are licensed
  • What should sync: products, pricing, inventory, customers, sales orders
  • How stale stock is allowed to be (vendor “typically two minutes” is a claim, not a promise we will make)
  • Who the Pronto partner is, if you have one
  • What “done” looks like: a working sync, a repaired interface, or a clear picture first

The first call is 30 minutes. You leave with a recommendation you can take to a manager, not a Pronto estimate that named the wrong layer.

Related work

We have not published a Pronto Xi ecommerce case. NESS is nopCommerce and Dynamics NAV 2018. Windsor is Peach and Xero. Neither is Pronto, and we will not stretch them.

CoSource is a Sydney software firm and a nopCommerce Gold Partner. Services include CRM & ERP integration on nopCommerce, AbleCommerce, and Shopify. That is a capability, not a Pronto case study. A Pronto environment still starts with its own assessment.

FAQ

Is Avenue the same thing as Pronto Xi?
No. Xi is the ERP. Avenue is an ecommerce / integration layer on top, with its own HTTP APIs. Connect is the REST/custom API framework. Say which one you mean.
Can our existing CMS talk to Pronto?
Yes, if we scope Connect, Avenue, or a custom API — products, pricing, inventory, customers, sales orders. Do not assume Avenue must replace the CMS you already have.
How live is stock?
Pronto’s Avenue material says sync to Xi is typically two minutes. That is vendor text. Your lot size, custom API, and warehouse setup may not match it. We will not promise two minutes on the first call.
Do you have a Pronto store case?
No. We will not invent one, or treat “100,000+ monthly users” as our research.
Should we buy Avenue if we already have nopCommerce?
Only if you want that layer. A CMS you already run can sit on Connect (or a custom API) instead. That is the scoping choice this page exists to force.

Talk through the Pronto connection you already need

Thirty minutes. Bring a store URL and whether you have Connect, Avenue, or both. We will tell you which layer to use, whether to connect, or whether orders should stay in Xi.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call