Dutch store chain Action has opened its first German distribution center near Mannheim, which will handle the entire supply chain for Germany, Austria and part of France.
To 180 German stores
Action needed to build a new distribution center, because it wants to expand significantly in Germany. It showed its intent last year, with the opening of sixty new stores. “Considering the size and population density of the German market, it will be one of the most important countries for our growth strategy”, CEO Sander van der Laan said at one of the store openings. Currently, Action has 150 German stores, which should be 180 by the end of the year.
The chain opened 197 new stores in 2016, in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. According to Van der Laan, Action is the fastest-growing non-food discounter in Europe. In 2016, turnover grew more than a third to 2.7 billion euro. There was a 6.9 % like-for-like turnover growth in 2016, but in 2015, that was even larger (at 7.6 %). The like-for-like growth came on the back of the stores’ increased number of transactions, because its prices remained level.
The German distribution center is not its first outside of the Netherlands, because it already opened one near Paris, to supports is enormous French growth.
