Action celebrates 30th anniversary with focus on sustainability

Non-food discounter Action has grown from just one to over 2,200 stores in thirty years’ time, spanning ten European markets. The road ahead is filled with expansion and sustainable initiatives, the Dutch retailer says.

Fastest growing

In 1992, Action opened its very first store in Enkhuizen (near Amsterdam) – the beginning of a huge success story that went international in 2005 with a first Belgian store. Meanwhile, the retailer has twelve distribution centres and more than 2,200 stores in Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and – since last year – Spain.

Each week, twelve million customers visit one of the physical stores, while the website receives eight million visitors. 70,000 people with 124 nationalities have found a job within Action, which claims to be the fastest growing non-food discounter in Europe. Far from being complacent, the Dutch company aims to continue expanding: the concept of a surprising product range at discount prices is a hit in the whole of Europe, CEO Hajir Hajji says.

More sustainable

The stores offer a constantly changing range of some 6,000 products. That range will become more sustainable in the next few years, as Action states it wants to make sustainable products more accessible for everyone. Action’s scale makes this possible, Hajji says. Moreover, the Dutch retailer feels responsible to continuously change the quality of its products and to make the ecological footprint more transparent, the CEO adds.

In March, Action will publish its annual sustainability update, with more information regarding the progress made in this field.