What is an Item Backlog?

A "Backlog" is a set of SKUs that are no longer active. It's unlikely Whiplash would ever physically receive these goods, and they're not coming through on consumer Orders. For established brands with high SKU turnover, the backlog of SKUs can be many times higher than the current SKU set.

Why would we want to import our Backlog, then?

Primarily, to allow seamless Returns against items that are no longer being shipped but are still out in the world. The brute force approach would be to import everything you'd ever shipped, just in case it ever came back, then deal with the fallout of having way too many Items.

Policy & best practice

We'll work with you to make sure your Returns flow, and that the database reflects only what's necessary. Only import Items that are going to be physically present and sellable in the facility, plus anything that was shipped in the 60 days before launch. This keeps the database uncluttered.

This is most important for customers with more than 20,000 total SKUs.

Workarounds to allow seamless Returns

Since we won't have a complete history of every item you've ever shipped, we'll add them as we receive them. Receiving teams can create Items in Whiplash with SKUs and barcodes for any item they can't identify. If necessary, your team can import those items from your shop and merge them with the manually created one.

Automated workarounds

We do have some logic for adding Items on demand, but it depends heavily on how those returns are entering the system (manually, via a Returns integration, API, etc). Reach out to tech@getwhiplash.com to discuss our options.