ukchessblogger.com

Chess set retailers embrace social networks as marketing tool

Social networking has been taking the web by storm over the last couple of years. Websites like facebook, twitter and bebo have become a huge part of peoples online lifestyle. Where the young generation of hip groovy teens lead the way, the grown ups are now following. One chess set retailer, the Regency Chess Company has embraced social networking and now uses it as a highly effective platform to communicate with it’s customers.

At face value the social networking sites don’t immediately jump out as being the place to go to market your online business to new clients. Lets not forget however, that millions of people the world over are using social networking as a way to communicate, network and gain information about their interests and hobbies.

The social networking scene is not to be seen as a place for an instant quick fix in terms of advertising or promotion. Instead see it as a longer term branding exercise that will win you real support from your customers. Of course, being featured all over the webs social media networks will mean you have to work extra hard at pleasing your customers. People will be talking and twittering about you so make sure they only have the chance to say nice things about your company and your products.

Slumping Pound Sends Price of Chess Sets Soaring!

The global economic crisis is not exactly hot news at present. One of the biggest problems facing us in the UK is the decimation of our currency. The GB pound is not so much suffering but dead in the water at present. It seems every time Gordon Brown or one of his Socialist cronies open their mouths in public the value falls even further.

What has this got to do with chess sets you might ask? Well the Chess market in the UK relies on goods imported from other parts of the world. India, China, Poland, Italy. Irrespective of which country the sets come from the prices are going up!

It’s a tough time for chess retailers. Often accused of making huge margins by those with no business understanding. The reality at present is that margins are getting tighter, sales harder to come by and suppliers are seeking to sell their wares to other countries who’s currency is remaining strong.

Will this mean the end for some of the smaller chess retailers? or even the larger ones? Only time will tell but one thing is for certain… it doesn’t get much worse than this!

New UK based chess retailer launches this month

A brand new UK based chess retailer opened it’s doors this week. A new kid on the block of chess retailers that will no doubt cause quite a stir. Will no doubt be interesting to monitor their progress and see what sort of designs they add to their site in coming weeks.

Why do chess pieces crack?

It can be a very sad sight, you have a stunning set of wooden chess pieces that were bought long enough ago for the warranty to have expired and in one of the pieces a huge crack is developing. This problem can affect sets from both sides of the price spectrum.

Anyone who knows about wood will tell you that wood will move and change shape over time. When it’s first harvested it is full of moisture, as it seasons this moisture decreases. During this process the wood can shrink, warp or move.

The idea behind wood working is to let the wood complete all of it’s moving and changing before you turn it into your desired object. There are however a few problems. Firstly there are two factors which affect the wood. They are temperature and moisture and the two go hand in hand. Heat the wood to a high temperature and you can expect to see moisture reduce, let the wood sit in cooler damp climes and expect to see the moisture increase.

Because most chess sets are made in one country, then shipped to another it can experience dramatic changes in temperature and humidity. Another factor involved is the weighting of the chess piece. Chess pieces are hollowed out at the base and metal weights inserted. In the old days they used to drill a hole, fill it with molten lead then seal up the base with a leather disc. Worries about the safety of lead caused a switch over to steel which was inserted in the form of solid discs.

In the beginning this caused a problem. The old lead method was quite ideal for the pieces because lead was soft, this meant that the wood could move, bend, and contract slightly and the soft lead inside would accommodate it. Hard steel however was less forgiving and if fitted too tightly inside the chess piece would mean that cracking was very likely.

This problem was solved by drilling a slightly larger hole in the piece than was actually needed so that the steel disc fitted loosely inside. A soft ply-able filler is then inserted around the steel to fill in the gaps and remove any gaps or movement. This meant that the wooden chess piece could move, bend and grow without the weight inside causing the wood to crack.

Despite these developments some cracking will still occur, wood is not a 100% stable material and a degree of change is to be expected in it’s lifetime. When buying fine chess pieces from a retailer ensure you choose one who offers a good replacement policy for any pieces that do crack. Just make sure you don’t start cracking up yourself if one or two of your pieces do.

Online chess playing

Despite it’s deeply traditional beginnings chess is rapidly becoming a game of the web with thousands of people playing against each other online. Web 2.0 makes it easy for people to play live games of chess while seated in different corners of the globe. Indeed those brave enough can even play for money should they so wish. A chance for the highly talented players to earn some serious money should they wish to do so.

Another increasingly popular chess medium is online chess software. Chess Boss for example offer a free chess download that allows you to play online chess against software. It seems the old days of two players sat opposite each other with a wooden chess board are changing rapidly. If this trend continues it will only be good for chess, we can watch the chess players of the world flexing their chess muscles more often and with more opponents. A sure sign of good things to come.

Buying a chess set direct from India

You have probably seen the many listings on ebay for elaborate and seemingly high quality chess sets at an amazingly cheap price. More often than not these sets are in India or China waiting to be posted to you for a fraction of the cost of buying the same set in the UK. There is however a catch, well more than one actually, that you need to be aware of.

Firstly there is the postage fees. It goes without saying that buying your chess set from the far east is going to cost a lot in postage. It’s very common for a seller to advertise the set for pennies or just a few pounds and then make their real profit on the postage costs. This is all well and good until you receive the goods and they were not what you expected. The seller will happily refund your pennies, but will regard the pounds already spent on ‘postage’ as non refundable.

Then there’s the quality. It’s a well known fact that India produces some of the worlds finest chess sets, there is a vast number of chess manufacturers and artisans working there to produce chess sets, in some cases for quite prestigious names in Chess. The market over there is vast and it seems anyone and everyone wants a look in. It’s easy for an ebay trader to buy a few sets from a local chess makers. A few rupees will buy them the pile of rejects that a supplier has weeded out from their stock thats intended for export. It’s all too easy for them to find their way onto ebay at tiny starting prices.

While buying from an Indian ebay seller might seem like a great way to save a few pounds it’s seldom worth it. All the proper producers of chess are too busy dealing with their real export customers to worry about ebaying off a few sets here and there so you can be sure that the set isn’t coming from them. Expect massive shipping times and a level of customer service that’s typical of a company 6000 miles away.

Remember that UK chess suppliers are governed by strict trading standards regulations whereas a small time ebayer in India or China is answerable to no one should your transaction turn sour.

Chess sets & the credit crunch – how they are affected

The current economic situation seems to be turning from a credit crunch into a world economic crisis it seems. With the US government in turmoil over a multi billion dollar rescue package and both the US and UK economies suffering downturns. It seems focus has been taken off our own government in the blame game for the crisis as the whole world begins to suffer the effects of the crisis.

Chess sets might not be the first thing you associate with a financial crisis but the market for chess products is sure to be affected by the current situation. The vast majority of chess sets are imported, usually from places like India, China, Poland and Taiwan. While the pound and dollar were strong it was very cost effective to buy chess products from these countries. But with a weakening of both currencies it’s certain that the landed cost price of the sets coming into the country will have to rise.

Because specialist chess sets are often sold by small businesses or enthusiasts we can expect to see a number of retailers go under during the crisis. For those who set themselves up in times of economic boom when spending power was powerful things are going to become extremely tough. Not only will their costs increase but their selling prices may fall as demand slows and sales fall.

Chess however is one of those things that is not a fad, a passing phase or a seasonal game. It’s so well established as a game that it’s popularity has survived all manor of changes in society and it’s showing no signs of going away any time soon. It will be this that keeps the chess market going through these hard times.

Chess boards, the solid vs veneer debate

I was interested to read two very different policies from two rival chess retailing websites recently. It was in relation to the kind of boards they stocked. The first retailer makes quite a big deal about how all of their chess boards are made out of solid wood, no veneers present! They point out the benefits of having a solid board as opposed to a veneer one as being quite significant.

The other retailer stocks only veneer boards and makes a point about how they do this to help protect the environment. I am not going to conduct any research into the carbon footprint of a veneer board over a solid one. However given that the said retailer has piles of stock air frighted over every month I doubt that saving the planet is their true reason behind their stock of veneer chess boards.

In case you were wondering, a veneer chess board is constructed using a center slab of wood to which thin layers of wood are glued to each edge in order to give the board the appearance of being made using the layer wood, as opposed to the wood or material thats hiding inside. One benefit to this method is that a center core can be used that is 100% stable. MDF or ply wood wont bend or crack or move in different temperatures so using these for chess boards can make someones life much easier.

Of course no one would buy an MDF chess board, however cover it in a veneer of mahogany or maple and all of a sudden you have a decent looking chess board. While there is nothing wrong with this method the appeal of a board thats solid throughout is far greater. It almost seems less fake to have a solid board, it’s not pretending to be something it isn’t.

If you have ever bought a cheap chopping board thats made from wood you will understand what can happen to a piece of solid wood. Sometimes is just naturally wants to bend like a banana. The production of solid wooden chess boards would suffer the same fate if it were not for expert selection, seasoning and crafting of these boards. You can begin to see why they cost more than their veneered cousins.

There is also the subject of age to consider. While a veneer board might look great when it’s new can we expect it to fair so well after 20 years of use and the occasional meeting between a stone floor and it’s corners? A solid board is going to age gracefully and wear it’s knocks with pride while a veneer board is going to need plastic surgery and a helping of super glue to remain looking good into old age.

Weighted chess pieces

The mystery of weighted chess pieces is often a subject of great interest among chess enthusiasts. There is no doubt that a triple weighted king feels fantastic in the hands. Pick up the same chess piece in an unweighted version and you instantly notice a sense of inferiority. Even the best bud rosewood chess sets can feel cheap when they are lacking the weight.

The method that was traditionally used was to drill out channels in the base of the pieces and pour in molten lead. The lead would set solid then a leather or felt disc would be glued onto the base of the chess piece to cover the dual function of covering up the unsightly lead and also giving the pieces a nice soft base.

More recently however the process has been forced to change. Some purists might disagree with the current method but there are a number of good reasons why it’s done differently now. The main one being the huge increase in the cost of lead. The price has gone up significantly making it very expensive for chess set artisans to purchase it.

The other factor is the safety. Lead is very poisonous and the governments of developed countries won’t permit the import of products that contain lead, especially products that are toys or games and likely to come into contact with children.

Therefore the chess set makers have devised a simpler method which involves drilling circular channels and inserting rods of steel inside. They then have to pour glue inside to secure the steel inside the wood. Rattling chess pieces would certainly not be acceptable. The rods will perform an effective job at weighting the chess set. However steel is not as heavy as lead, therefore more will be required meaning more wood need to be drilled out.

The end result of this is that the old lead filled chess pieces are now a thing of the past. Like the sets made from illegal and endangered woods they may well become more valuable and collectible in the years to come.

Buying a chess set online

The explosion in online shopping has enveloped the chess set market and the internet is now the place to visit for the biggest selection of chess products available. The vast selection is not without it’s problems, how is one to know what to buy, or who to buy it from? The large players like Amazon and ebay are in on the act as well as a number of other huge online shopping portals. Then there is the minefield of independent e stores offering a vast array of products and service levels.

With 1000s of different chess products it’s difficult to gauge if the set you are looking at is indeed worth the money. Cautious buyers often stick to well known brands such as Jaques, Gibson and House of Staunton. This can limit ones choice somewhat and is not the best way to bag a good value bargain.

An online chess retailer should be upfront about the products they are selling, giving the full details of where the product is made and how much it weighs. Both of these factors are paramount in determining how good a set is. Look for security certificates and membership seals on the sellers home page, check their authenticity. It’s too easy for a rouge seller to launch a retail store for the sole purpose of liquidating a load of bad stock. If the site doesn’t give the ‘trust’ feeling move along to the next one.

The old saying ‘The camera never lies’ goes out the window when it comes to buying chess sets online. A competent studio photographer can make even the cheapest set look good online. A certain importer of cheap Chinese goods has been known to supply product images of genuine European versions of their cheap copies in order to boost sales of their chess boards and pieces.

If buying an expensive set make sure the seller offers an excellent returns policy, if the photos and description have mislead you use their returns policy to get the set back to them in exchange for a full refund. Compare their products to those from another site, with all the smoke and mirrors it’s easy for a seller to dress up a budget set to look like it’s worth more.

Remember that paying by credit card offers excellent protection, if everything goes wrong use your rights under the consumer credit Act to get your money refunded. This safety net allows you to take full advantage of the vast selection of lovely chess products available on the internet.

The growth in global trade means that many of the smaller online chess retailers buy their stock abroad, sometimes from brokers who source stock from artisans in remote parts of the world. Some online stores will import limited quantities of highly crafted sets which means you can buy a unique or rare chess set without having to pay an astronomical price for it.

Finally, don’t be scared of ordering your chess product online. There is an increasing amount of excellent stock out there thats not to be missed, just go careful, use your head and remember…. if it’s too good to be true it probably isn’t true.