Introduction
Online chess stores play an important role in sustaining the global chess community as they enable chess players to access essential chess equipment and learning resources so that both chess players and chess enthusiasts can improve their skills and enjoy the game wherever they reside. Online chess stores also play a key role in promoting chess and providing support for the global chess community which is essential for the future growth and development of the chess community and the chess industry. In this article i will highlight some of the best online chess stores and provide information on the history of their stores, their available products and services, their customers experience, their trustworthiness and reputation and much more. I will also explore their main strengths and weaknesses.
Purling London is an online chess store that’s based in the UK which specialises in supplying high quality luxury chess sets, chess boards, and chess pieces. Purling London was founded by Simon Purkis in 2012 and the founding of Purling London was sparked by a desire to reinvigorate traditional games such as chess by incorporating colours, art, beautiful materials, and specialist finishing processes. Although Purling London is a relatively new online chess store it has become one of the most popular online chess stores in the UK since it’s founding in 2012 and has attracted the attention of popular brands such as Harrods, Christie’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany & Co, Davidson London, Saatchi Gallery, World Chess Hall of Fame, and much more. The chess sets that are available at Purling London are hand made from the highest quality materials such as ebony, boxwood, maple, alabaster, Italian Nappa leather, and 18 karat gold by expert craftsman, Purling London also offers bespoke chess sets that are designed according to their customers specifications. In addition to chess sets Purling London also supplies high quality luxury checkers sets, backgammon sets, playing cards, and gift cards. Purling London is a high-end online chess store with a wide range of traditional games and chess products that caters to the tastes of chess players of all ages and levels of experience.
Store history
Purling London was founded in 2012 by Simon Purkis and was sparked by a desire to reinvigorate traditional games such as chess by introducing colour to the design of chess sets and incorporating art, beautiful materials and specialist finishing processes to the manufacturing of chess sets. Simon Purkis is a passionate chess player and entrepreneur with a background in finance and a keen interest in fine art and street art. Simon Purkis’ venture into the chess industry was triggered whilst struggling to play chess at night on holiday in Indonesia which caused him to question the standard design of average wooden chess sets and consider the viability of creating luminous chess sets with an artistic touch. Purling London has worked with numerous artists to create some of the most unique and spectacular chess sets which have caught the attention of some of the largest brands in the world such as Harrods, Christie’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany & Co, Davidson London, Saatchi Gallery, World Chess Hall of Fame, Breuninger, Gosling, Elicyon, Bailey London, and Hambledon Vineyard. The design of Purling London’s chess sets are based on the traditional Staunton design but are artistically decorated by some of the most influential artists in the UK and around the world to transform average chess sets into works of art. Purling London has gained worldwide recognition for their innovative chess sets and in 2016, just four years after their launch, they were selected by Europe’s largest design show, Maison & Objet Paris, as a future trend.
Product selection and quality
Purling London has a wide range of high-quality high-end chess products that caters to chess players of all ages and experience levels with a taste for luxury as well as other traditional games such as checkers sets, backgammon sets, and playing cards, Purling London also supplies gift vouchers. The chess products that are available at Purling London includes chess sets, bespoke chess sets, chess boards and chess pieces.
Chess sets available at Purling London:
Artistic chess sets, bespoke chess sets, bold chess sets, custom chess sets, heritage chess sets, pondus chess sets, and stone chess sets.
Chess boards available at Purling London:
Pondus chess boards, custom chess boards, bespoke chess boards, heritage chess boards, stone chess boards, artistic chess boards, and bold chess boards.
Chess pieces available at Purling London:
Pondus chess pieces, custom chess pieces, bespoke chess pieces, heritage chess pieces, stone chess pieces, artistic chess pieces, and bold chess pieces.
Checkers sets available at Purling London:
Stone and maple wood checkers sets, and stone, maple and poplar checkers sets.
Backgammon sets available at Purling London:
Walnut backgammon sets.
Playing cards available at Purling London:
The roaring 20’s playing cards, and the roaring 20’s playing card twin deck.
Gift cards available at Purling London:
100-pound gift vouchers, 250-pound gift vouchers, 500-pound gift vouchers, and 1000-pound gift vouchers.
Purling London customer service and customer experience
The Purling London customer service team can be contacted via phone, WhatsApp, email, mail, and by booking an appointment and visiting the store in person which is located in west London. The Purling London customer service team is available 24 hours a day and are happy to assist customers with any queries or issues they may have such as product related questions, assisting with returns, assisting with website navigation issues and any other issues that customers may have whilst browsing the site. Purling London is well known for supplying high quality chess products and for their excellent standard of customer service which many of their customers have expressed in their reviews online on platforms such as Google reviews. Although Purling London has a small number of online reviews which decreases the strength of their review profile, all the reviews of Purling London are positive which corroborates their reputation for delivering an excellent standard of customer service. Purling London’s primary customer base consists of high profile individuals, such as celebrities and even royalty who are accustomed to receiving the highest quality products, services and customer service. This has enabled the Purling London customer service team to master the art of customer service which they demonstrate when dealing with customers from all demographics.
Trustworthiness and reputation
Purling London ranks highly on the scale of trustworthiness even though it is a relatively new online chess store. Purling London collaborates with large brands and talented artists to create one-of-a-kind chess sets of the highest quality and their clientele consists of high-profile individuals such as celebrities and royalty who are accustomed to purchasing high quality products and services. All the reviews that customers of Purling London have left online regarding their experience shopping with Purling London are positive which is rare as it’s common for most stores that have been in operation for even a few years to receive at least a few negative reviews. One of the main reasons why Purling London has been able to attain and maintain such high customer satisfaction ratios is because they prioritise supplying the highest quality products whilst also prioritising the needs of their customers. As a result, Purling London has gained a reputation for supplying products that reflect the extraordinary craftsmanship of the artists that they collaborate with, delivering an excellent standard of customer service, and for their high level of trustworthiness. Another factor that contributes to the trustworthiness of Purling London is their transparency as all the information that customers need to assess the trustworthiness of their store can be easily found in their Privacy and terms of service pages which provides information on what customers should expect whilst interacting with their website in addition to other helpful information.
Pricing and affordability
Purling London has a large catalogue of high-quality chess products as well as other board games and traditional games such as checkers, backgammon, and playing cards. However, as Purling London is a high end store their products may not be suitable for customers that are not willing to pay significant amounts of money on board games or other recreational activities. The chess sets that are available at Purling London are priced as low as 900 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 45,000 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess boards are priced as low as 200 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 2,500 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess pieces are priced as low as 50 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 800 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The bespoke chess sets are priced at 2,500 pounds and the bespoke chess pieces are priced at 1,500 pounds. The checkers sets are priced as low as 595 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 695 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The backgammon sets are priced at 297.50 pounds. Lastly, the playing cards are priced as low as 45 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 85 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum.
Available Payment methods
Purling London only accepts payments in credit and debit cards.
Shipping, cancellations, returns, exchanges, and delivery performance
Purling London ships both nationally and internationally to over 100 countries around the world and all orders will be shipped via trackable methods such as DHL, UPS, FedEx, and Royal Mail. Once orders are dispatched customers will receive notifications from the chosen courier company with their order tracking details. Purling London aims to dispatch orders for items that are in stock within three working days once an order has been confirmed. Bespoke orders can take 8-10 weeks to be delivered depending on the order requirements and customers will be quoted once they have made an enquiry or when the order is confirmed. Chess, Checkers, and games will be shipped via DHL, UPS, or FedEx Express. UK customers can expect their items to be delivered within 2 working days from the time their orders are dispatched, European customers can expect their items to be delivered within 3 to 4 days from the time their orders are dispatched and customers outside of Europe can expect their items to be delivered within 14 days from the time their orders are dispatched depending on the order destination and the countries customs processing procedures. Playing cards, single chess pieces, and small items will be shipped via tracked Royal Mail or post. Purling London provides free shipping to UK customers on orders 350 pounds and above however international customers will be subject to additional shipping costs due to customs duties fees and taxes that are required to facilitate international deliveries. Customers can cancel their orders if they wish to do so but must do so within 14 days of receiving their orders and cancelled orders must also be returned within an additional 14 days in perfect condition including Purling branded packaging. Customers may also be liable for the costs of return postage except in instances where orders arrive damaged in which case Purling London may be liable to pay for the return postage.
Website navigation and mobile friendliness
The Purling London website is easy to navigate, intuitively designed and mobile friendly with easily identifiable product categories on both mobile and desktop devices, a search bar which is located at the top left of the website that enables customers to search for specific products, and a footer menu that’s located at the bottom of the website which enables customers to find additional information such as the book an appointment page, the frequently asked questions page, the contact us page, the about us/our story page, the delivery and returns page, the privacy page, the terms and conditions page, links to their social media profiles and more. On desktop devices, hovering over the chess product category will display the subcategories and reveal the products within that subcategory such as their chess sets, chess boards and chess pieces, and clicking on the other categories will display all the products that are within a specific category. On mobile devices and tablets, clicking on the hamburger menu that’s located at the top left corner of the screen will display all the product categories as well as a link to the contact us page. The Purling London website is as easy to navigate on mobile and tablet devices as it is on desktop devices and features clear and vivid product photos and comprehensive product descriptions which enables customers to make well informed purchasing decisions remotely. The Purling London website also utilises TSL/SSL encryption which protects customers sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers from malicious entities whilst interacting with their site. Overall, the Purling London website is easy to navigate, intuitively designed with the customers convenience in mind, safe, mobile friendly and well stocked with a vast catalogue of high-quality chess products and traditional games.
Purling London strengths and weaknesses
Purling London’s main strengths are their intuitively designed, easy to navigate and mobile friendly website, their vast catalogue of high quality and unique chess products and traditional games, their bespoke chess products, and their excellent standard of customer service. The reviews that customers have left online regarding their experiences shopping with Purling London also suggest that Purling London is strong in all of these areas in addition to the fact that Purling London has not received any negative reviews since their founding in 2012. However, as with any online store there is always room for improvement and Purling London is not exempt from this even though it is strong in numerous areas. Some of Purling London’s main weaknesses are their limited number of payment methods which prevents customers using payment methods that are not accepted at Purling London to purchase from their store, the absence of live chat which makes it difficult for customers to contact and communicate with the Purling London customer service team in real time, and their lack of transparency in disclosing how customers refunds are processed. Overall, Purling London is a trustworthy and reputable online chess store that supplies high quality luxury chess products whilst simultaneously prioritising the needs of their customers.
Conclusion
Online chess stores are an essential part of the chess industry, and they play a crucial role in sustaining the global chess community as they enable chess players to access essential equipment and resources that will enable them to improve their skills in chess however not all online chess stores are made the same as some are clearly better than others. In this article i have highlighted 25 of the most prominent online chess stores, each having defining characteristics. Some online chess stores specialise in supplying high end chess products, some specialise in supplying chess products for professional chess players, and some specialise in supplying chess products for chess players for all ages, tastes, budgets, and experience levels. Whether you’re a professional chess player in search of a chess set that’s suitable for practice sessions, a chess set collector in search of unique chess products, or a chess enthusiast in search of a high-quality chess set, this catalogue of online chess stores will enable you to find the perfect online chess store.
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