Action was founded in Enkhuizen, a small town in the northwest of the Netherlands, in 1993. Since then, we have grown rapidly thanks to strong demand from customers for our flexible range of good-quality products at the lowest prices. Today, Action has more than 3,300 stores across 14 European countries.
Action offers customers everyday necessities such as cleaning products and cosmetics, as well as products that enrich daily life, including picture frames and candles that help turn a house into a home, and gardening tools for customers with green fingers. We offer 6,000 different products in 14 categories, introducing 150 new products each week to make sure our product range stays relevant to our customers.
At the heart of our strategy is our customer proposition: good-quality products at the lowest prices.
Our strategy ensures our way of working remains as simple as possible and consistent across all areas. It allows us to grow, benefits our customers, colleagues and suppliers, and focuses on what matters most.
We continue to invest and re-invest in our basic customer proposition:
good-quality products at the lowest prices.
As customer demand grows, we are able to open more stores and enter new markets.
By maintaining a simple, efficient and scalable operating model, we can keep our costs low.
We are working to make our products and operations more sustainable. Because of our low prices, these products are accessible to everyone.
We invest in our people, their development and
well-being. They are the beating heart of our company.
Customers love the Action formula: good-quality products at the lowest prices and increasingly sustainable. Because of our size, we buy in large volumes. That saves on production and transport costs. We pass these savings on to our customers.
We also keep our own costs low. Action stores are located in areas with affordable rents, generally outside high-street locations. And we also keep spending on marketing to a minimum, benefiting from positive word of mouth as our customers are our biggest fans.
All Action stores have the same format. They are spacious and easy to navigate, with low shelves and wide aisles. Our stores are easy to get to, with sufficient parking space. When planning new stores, we prioritise convenient and accessible locations.
We like to keep things simple. We use standard processes and systems. That also helps keep costs down and means that our customers experience the Action formula in the same way from one store to the next.
More than two-thirds of our sold products are priced below €2. Our prices make it possible for everyone to shop at Action and buy the products they need. We ensure we keep our lowest prices promise by maintaining a healthy price distance to others.
Every week, we introduce 150 new products. This means that our product range is always surprising, up to date and relevant to our customers.
We buy products from suppliers around the world and apply the same strict quality standards to all our products, regardless of their origin.
Our suppliers include wholesalers and importers, A-brands or stock lot traders. We also buy products directly from factories. Our stores sell private label products, supplier brands and other well-known consumer brands.
Source: All customer profile data is taken from market research carried out by GfK (June 2025). Data is based on consumer internet panels, covering the following countries: Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy and Spain. Other countries were excluded due to relatively small available sample sizes and the small number of stores at year-end 2025.
Action stores attract customers of all ages, backgrounds and incomes. Most of them want to make smart choices about what they buy or simply do not want to spend more than necessary.
In addition to visiting our stores, millions of customers use the Action app to find product information, access their favourites list or cash register receipts, and discover promotions and store locations.
Meanwhile, through our webshop, which is available to customers in the Netherlands and Belgium, we offer a range of products that complements our in-store selection.
28%
35-49
47%
50+
25%
18-34
30%
Middle
29%
Low
41%
High
39%
Men
61%
Women
47%
Middle
20%
Low
33%
High
(headcount, at end 2025)
Our colleagues are the beating heart of Action: they help our customers every single day. At the end of 2025, more than 84,000 colleagues worked at our stores, distribution centres and offices across Europe.
Our culture and work environment attract people from diverse backgrounds and life stages, creating a workforce that reflects both the communities we operate in and a wide range of perspectives. Many of our colleagues work at Action because they enjoy flexible working hours. They combine work with other priorities, such as studying or caring for family members.
79,988
Action stores
1,806
Distribution
centres
2,452
Offices
We have a distinct Action culture that promotes growth and collaboration. It is driven by our six values.
Our Action values reflect the way we work at every level of the company: keeping things simple, always putting customers first and making every cent count. Teamwork and respect are the foundations of what we do every day.
Our values are embedded in our core processes, such as our recruitment and selection, our onboarding, and our training and development programmes. In our yearly performance review cycle, our values are a fixed criterion, alongside job-specific skills and capabilities. We also display them clearly across our stores, DCs and offices to keep them visible for everyone and maintain a high level of awareness in our daily work.
Action is managed in line with its formula: simple and straightforward, with a clear distinction between what is done centrally at group level and what is done locally in the countries. Country management focuses on operational excellence and performance; the centralised functions at our international headquarters are responsible for areas such as commerce, logistics, marketing and technology.
Responsibility for our performance lies with our Board, which consists of two executive directors, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and seven non-executive directors from the retail, finance, healthcare and other business sectors.
The Board sets Action’s strategy and approves business plans and budgets, while our CEO and CFO take charge of day-to-day management, assisted by an Executive Committee of senior leaders from across the business.
Committed to paying taxes
Action has a Tax Policy, which sets out our approach to tax matters. We are committed to complying with all relevant tax laws and regulations. That means paying the taxes we owe in a timely manner. In doing so, we are making a positive contribution to the communities in which we operate.
We do not make use of tax havens for tax avoidance. Our investment decisions are based on strict business criteria, not on potential tax benefits.
Action was founded in Enkhuizen, a small town in the northwest of the Netherlands, in 1993. Since then, we have grown rapidly thanks to strong demand from customers for our flexible range of good-quality products at the lowest prices. Today, Action has more than 3,300 stores across 14 European countries.
Action offers customers everyday necessities such as cleaning products and cosmetics, as well as products that enrich daily life, including picture frames and candles that help turn a house into a home, and gardening tools for customers with green fingers. We offer 6,000 different products in 14 categories, introducing 150 new products each week to make sure our product range stays relevant to our customers.
We invest in our people, their development and
well-being. They are the beating heart of our company.
We are working to make our products and operations more sustainable. Because of our low prices, these products are accessible to everyone.
By maintaining a simple, efficient and scalable operating model, we can keep our costs low.
As customer demand grows, we are able to open more stores and enter new markets.
We continue to invest and re-invest in our basic customer proposition:
good-quality products at the lowest prices.
At the heart of our strategy is our customer proposition: good-quality products at the lowest prices.
Our strategy ensures our way of working remains as simple as possible and consistent across all areas. It allows us to grow, benefits our customers, colleagues and suppliers, and focuses on what matters most.
Customers love the Action formula: good-quality products at the lowest prices and increasingly sustainable. Because of our size, we buy in large volumes. That saves on production and transport costs. We pass these savings on to our customers.
We also keep our own costs low. Action stores are located in areas with affordable rents, generally outside high-street locations. And we also keep spending on marketing to a minimum, benefiting from positive word of mouth as our customers are our biggest fans.
All Action stores have the same format. They are spacious and easy to navigate, with low shelves and wide aisles. Our stores are easy to get to, with sufficient parking space. When planning new stores, we prioritise convenient and accessible locations.
We like to keep things simple. We use standard processes and systems. That also helps keep costs down and means that our customers experience the Action formula in the same way from one store to the next.
More than two-thirds of our sold products are priced below €2. Our prices make it possible for everyone to shop at Action and buy the products they need. We ensure we keep our lowest prices promise by maintaining a healthy price distance to others.
Every week, we introduce 150 new products. This means that our product range is always surprising, up to date and relevant to our customers.
We buy products from suppliers around the world and apply the same strict quality standards to all our products, regardless of their origin.
Our suppliers include wholesalers and importers, A-brands or stock lot traders. We also buy products directly from factories. Our stores sell private label products, supplier brands and other well-known consumer brands.
Source: All customer profile data is taken from market research carried out by GfK (June 2025). Data is based on consumer internet panels, covering the following countries: Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy and Spain. Other countries were excluded due to relatively small available sample sizes and the small number of stores at year-end 2025.
30%
Middle
29%
Low
41%
High
28%
35-49
47%
50+
25%
18-34
39%
Men
61%
Women
47%
Middle
20%
Low
33%
High
Action stores attract customers of all ages, backgrounds and incomes. Most of them want to make smart choices about what they buy or simply do not want to spend more than necessary.
In addition to visiting our stores, millions of customers use the Action app to find product information, access their favourites list or cash register receipts, and discover promotions and store locations.
Meanwhile, through our webshop, which is available to customers in the Netherlands and Belgium, we offer a range of products that complements our in-store selection.
79,988
Action stores
1,806
Distribution
centres
2,452
Offices
Our colleagues are the beating heart of Action: they help our customers every single day. At the end of 2025, more than 84,000 colleagues worked at our stores, distribution centres and offices across Europe.
Our culture and work environment attract people from diverse backgrounds and life stages, creating a workforce that reflects both the communities we operate in and a wide range of perspectives. Many of our colleagues work at Action because they enjoy flexible working hours. They combine work with other priorities, such as studying or caring for family members.
We have a distinct Action culture that promotes growth and collaboration. It is driven by our six values.
Our Action values reflect the way we work at every level of the company: keeping things simple, always putting customers first and making every cent count. Teamwork and respect are the foundations of what we do every day.
Our values are embedded in our core processes, such as our recruitment and selection, our onboarding, and our training and development programmes. In our yearly performance review cycle, our values are a fixed criterion, alongside job-specific skills and capabilities. We also display them clearly across our stores, DCs and offices to keep them visible for everyone and maintain a high level of awareness in our daily work.
Action is managed in line with its formula: simple and straightforward, with a clear distinction between what is done centrally at group level and what is done locally in the countries. Country management focuses on operational excellence and performance; the centralised functions at our international headquarters are responsible for areas such as commerce, logistics, marketing and technology.
Responsibility for our performance lies with our Board, which consists of two executive directors, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and seven non-executive directors from the retail, finance, healthcare and other business sectors.
The Board sets Action’s strategy and approves business plans and budgets, while our CEO and CFO take charge of day-to-day management, assisted by an Executive Committee of senior leaders from across the business.
Committed to paying taxes
Action has a Tax Policy, which sets out our approach to tax matters. We are committed to complying with all relevant tax laws and regulations. That means paying the taxes we owe in a timely manner. In doing so, we are making a positive contribution to the communities in which we operate.
We do not make use of tax havens for tax avoidance. Our investment decisions are based on strict business criteria, not on potential tax benefits.
