E-commerce fulfillment service Whiplash has an interesting background.
Its CEO and one of its co-founders were doing fulfillment for a rock band, and eventually realized their fulfillment application could be sold to a wider audience.
However, while Whiplash offers specialized services for clients in the music industry, its typical clients are e-commerce companies that have a strong online presence, including mostly startups or small to midsize retailers that sell smaller items such as apparel, music, shoes, and cosmetics.
In that way, it's very similiar to other online-focused competitors, like Red Stag.
Most of Whiplash's clients ship about 500 to several thousand items per month.
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Prices
Unlike most of its competitors, save exceptions like ShipBob (Free at ShipBob) , Whiplash clearly lays out all its charges on its website.
The fees vary depending on the number of orders per month, starting with Lite (250-500), which lists (per order) a $2.95 packing fee, 85-cent pick fee for two to six items, and 25-cent pick fee for seven or more items.
The charges per order go down as the number of orders per month goes up, according to these categories: Small (501-1,000), Medium (1,001-5,000) and Large (5,001+).
There are also charges for packaging, depending on materials needed, and storage ($0.45/cubic foot per month, with a $250 monthly minimum).
Postage depends on shipping method; receiving is free.
Other fee-added features include promotional items (such as leaflets), barcoding, and special products (such as assembling before shipping).
According to Whiplash, its contracts are totally "at will," with no time requirements.
Facilities
Whiplash is also different from many of its peers in how it handles storage.
According to a company representative, the company recognized a couple of years ago that its skill set was in managing its app rather than managing a warehouse, so it switched to a partnership model with several warehouses that were already shipping e-commerce orders.
That's very different from competitors like Rakuten (Free at Rakuten Super Logistics) , who not only handle their own warehouses but a fairly large number of them.
This means that Whiplash has access to more warehouses than usual for a smaller efulfillment company.
In the U.S., Whiplash currently works with 17 warehouses in 11 states.
It also uses warehouses in London, Montreal, and Sydney.
Software
The online software that Whiplash offers to clients is the same as that used by the company's warehouse staff and administrative team.
It includes several tabs that give you access to information about orders, inventory, ship notices (which inventory is being sent to the warehouses), and returns.
The Orders screen provides data in spreadsheet format about each order, such as customer name, shipping status, and method.
Several default searches are quickly accessible from a menu on the left side, which can be narrowed down.
Click an individual order and you can see all of the relevant information, such as address, each item stockkeeping unit (SKU) along with description and quantity, packaging materials, and time and method of shipping.
If an item wasn't sent yet, you can change the shipping method or perform a number of other tasks.
The Inventory tab works in much the same way.
A list of inventory items (including pre-ordered items) occupies most of the screen, with saved searches on the left-hand side.
You can specify for each item how it should be packed, whether it is already packed in a shippable container, whether it is eligible for media mail (which is less expensive), and other factors.
A feature called Ship Notices lets you alert Whiplash of inventory being sent to their warehouses, and offers information on when they arrived and if there were any problems (such as damaged items).
The Returns tab uses the same strategy to let you view returns and determine how they are handled.
A Notifications button lets you create email notifications for a variety of events, including insufficient or out-of-stock inventory, and a customer's declined credit card.
The software hooks into Shopify (29.00 Per Month at Shopify) and other popular shopping apps.
Whiplash offers phone and email support weekdays from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m.
Every item that goes into an order is scanned, so that there is a record of what went into the box.
In case of shipping problems, Whiplash says that it tries to give its customers everything they need to approach the carriers.
Final Thoughts
The majority of Whiplash's reviews, especially on the Shopify website, are positive, especially from small companies.
The comments emphasized Whiplash's personalized customer service.
The relatively short helpdesk support hours may be a concern for high-volume retailers.
But startups and small to midsize e-commerce shops that ship small items could find Whiplash a fine place to start.
The Bottom Line
While Whiplash offers specialized services for clients in the music industry, its typical clients are e-commerce companies with a strong online presence.
They include mostly startups, or small to midsize retailers that sell smaller items.
