How Tamkeen Stores Redefined Retention in the Appliance Category

Most e-commerce loyalty is built on momentum, repeat orders, subscriptions, and constant touchpoints. Appliances don’t come with that advantage.

Customers buy once every five to seven years. Sometimes even longer.

McKinsey’s 2024 Global State of White Goods Survey found that 39% of consumers now wait 10+ years to replace appliances, up from 35% the year before.

Through conversations with Mohammed Saied, Head of e-commerce and Digital Marketing at Tamkeen, a clear pattern emerges: in categories with infrequent purchases, loyalty isn’t won through marketing. It’s earned on installation day.

About Mohammed Saied

Mohammed Saied is the Head of e-commerce and Digital Marketing at Tamkeen Stores, bringing over 11 years of experience in the Saudi retail market. He holds a UK Level 7 Diploma and an MBA from the University of Lancashire (UK), which is consistently ranked among the UK’s top universities in major league tables.

Here are the biggest takeaways from his playbook for building digital-first retail in an infrequent-purchase category.

1. Digital-First Means Business-First, Not Channel-First

When Tamkeen transitioned from traditional retail to a digital-first model, the biggest pitfall they avoided was treating “digital” as just another channel.

“Digital is not just a website. It’s how the whole business works,” Mohammed explains.

Before scaling online, they fixed the fundamentals: accurate product data, real stock levels, and honest delivery windows. They unified the customer journey, no more “online team vs. store team.” And they built speed with guardrails to keep operations clean and consistent.

“Digital-first does not mean digital-only. Stores still build trust, and digital makes it easier and smarter.”

2. In Appliances, Service is the Product

Most customers don’t remember the checkout experience. They remember what happened after they clicked “buy.”

“In appliances, people don’t buy every month, so loyalty comes from support, not ads,” Mohammed shares. “The biggest driver is after-sales experience: delivery, installation, and fast issue fixing. If the customer feels ‘safe’ after buying, they come back and recommend us.”

While many retailers obsess over conversion rates and cart abandonment, Mohammed’s team focuses on what actually drives retention:

• Post-service satisfaction and resolution time
• Delivery success and installation accuracy
• Complaint rates and escalation speed

“You can’t discount your way out of a bad service experience. If the problem is service, we fix the service first; this saves loyalty better than discounts.”

3. Personalization Should Feel Like Advice

Most brands blast product recommendations based on browsing history and call it “smart.”

Mohammed’s approach was simple: “Personalization means the right message at the right time.”

At Tamkeen:

• Browse air conditioners? They won’t push refrigerators.
• Abandon a cart? They remind you of what you liked and answer common questions with no panic discounts.
• After purchase? Personalization is based on what you own: care tips, service reminders, and practical accessories, only when they make sense.

“We avoid spamming. Relevance and timing are the key.”

In high-ticket categories, cross-sell and upsell work best when you’re genuinely helping. Recommend options that fit their needs and bring them up at the right time.

Upsells should deliver clear value, efficiency, capacity, and warranty. Cross-sells should be practical: accessories and maintenance items, shared sparingly and in a helpful tone.

4. Churn Signals Come from Silence

In subscription businesses, churn is clear and measurable. In appliances, it’s quiet.

“Early churn is often ‘silence’: fewer visits, fewer opens, long gaps after a service issue,” Mohammed explains. They also monitor repeated browsing without purchase and price-checking behavior.

When silence signals appear, Tamkeen acts in levels:

• Help first: Proactive tips and support
• Assisted offers: Bundles, installation help, financing options
• Incentives last: Only if needed

The philosophy: Fix the root cause. If trust is broken through poor service, discounts won’t rebuild it. Fast, empathetic issue resolution will.

5. The Metrics That Actually Matter

Everyone measures NPS. Tamkeen does too. But Mohammed is quick to point out it doesn’t tell the whole story.

“Beyond NPS, we look at behavior and trust metrics”:

• Repeat purchase rate (measured over meaningful windows, not 30-day snapshots)
• Retention revenue share
• Customer lifetime value trends
• Referral rates and advocacy signals
• Service metrics: delivery success, complaint rates, resolution time, post-service satisfaction

Notice what’s missing? Vanity metrics such as email open rates and click-through rates.

“Data tells us what the customer needs, not what we want to push. We use browsing, purchasing, and service data to choose channels, timing, and content. In appliances, service is a big part of retention.”

In this category, loyalty is long, quiet, and trust-based. You won’t see it in weekly dashboards. You’ll see it in year-over-year repeat revenue and word-of-mouth growth.

Looking Ahead: The Next 3–5 Years

Mohammed sees three big shifts in customer engagement:

• AI-driven personalization: Moving beyond segments to truly individual experiences
• Conversational commerce: WhatsApp, chat, and messaging as primary channels
• Lifecycle journeys after purchase: Brands will own the full ownership experience

“Brands will rely more on first-party data and real-time intent.”

Tamkeen is preparing by improving data quality at the source, connecting marketing and service systems into a single customer view, and building automated journeys with fewer touchpoints and better relevance.

The Bottom Line

Loyalty in appliances is slow, quiet, and built on trust.

That means:

• The service has to be consistent
  
• Promises have to match reality
  
• Support has to be fast when things go wrong

Do that well, and retention shows up where it counts: repeat revenue over time and real word of mouth.

Even if the next purchase is five years away.

As Mohammed puts it: “We keep it simple: same info, same promises, same service tone. If something happens, we have a clear escalation path so we solve it fast.”

That simplicity, rooted in operational excellence and genuine customer care, might just be the most sophisticated loyalty strategy of all.