Leading discount retailer Action is 30 years in Europe

30 years of small prices and big smiles

Action started almost 30 years ago with one small store in Enkhuizen, the Netherlands – and has been on an amazing journey ever since. Action today employs more than 68,000 people in 10 countries – with more than 124 different nationalities. Action is the fastest growing non-food discounter in Europe, offering an ever-changing range of around 6,000 products to more than 12 million customers in over 2,200 stores and another 8 million consumers via the Action.com website – every week.

Small prices: in our DNA and in our culture

Action stores are mostly located just off the highstreets, however always easy to find. The company culture is about ongoing improvement, cutting out unnecessary costs and delivering highly efficient execution with a focus on simplicity and standardised processes. Action offers an assortment at small prices because of a focused range of 14 different categories of our customers’ interests both in daily essentials, family, home and hobbies, but with a limited number of articles. Action focuses only the most frequently bought products. This reduces ‘waste’ products and results in higher sales densities.

In every country our Action stores offer an almost identical assortment. Hajir Hajji: “The customer offer is at the heart of everything Action does. As a non-food discounter we must stick to our formula and never forget to put the customer first – making sure that they keep coming back. And they do.”

Our people make the difference

Hajir Hajji: “Our people are the backbone of Action. We are a discount store. But we never discount on our people. We make sure they feel good about working at Action with what we call ‘the total Action package’. Our colleagues tell us they feel good about their pay and the possibilities to grow and develop, about the possibility to influence their working hours, be entrepreneurial and balance their lives, about feeling part of a team – and being surprised themselves with the weekly renewal of our assortment.”

Over the last 30 years, Action has been welcomed in each new region given the employment and investment the stores bring. Action has the intrinsic motivation to offer everyone a chance to work at Action, regardless of education or background.

Commitment to a sustainable Action

As a leading discount retailer, sustainable sourcing and production are key to enable the Action future of responsible growth. Hajir Hajji: “Action can be a major player in making more sustainable products accessible to everyone. Action has the scale and the opportunity to offer our customers good quality, responsible products at the lowest price. As a leading discount retailer, we see it as our responsibility to continuously work on improving our products, our supply chain and our carbon footprint. With products are designed to last. That is what we continue to strive for.”