Dutch discount retailer Action recently opened its 3,000th store and is implementing an ambitious expansion plan that will see it open a store a day this year according to CEO Hajir Hajji. Its rapid growth has been something of a below-the-radar success story, but stellar half-year results saw the company hit €7.3 billion in sales, up 18% on the same period in 2024. Despite the challenging market conditions, the company has been able to build like-for-like sales over the same period up nearly 7%. Hajji explains how the retailer has grown to operate in 13 national markets, with more to be added this year and next.

Tell us about your expansion plans and the next new markets for you?


Given the strong customer demand for Action, we want to continue expanding our number of stores. Our ambition for this year is to open at least one store per day, around 370 in total. At the end of November, we will open our first store in Romania, our fourteenth country, and we have already announced plans to open the first stores in Croatia and Slovenia in 2026. In addition to stores in new countries, we also see many opportunities for stores in the countries where we are already present.

 "We have been constantly adapting the Action formula to ensure that we remain relevant and fresh for our customers."

And how are your store formats evolving?


Ever since our start in 1993, we have been constantly adapting the Action formula to ensure that we remain relevant and fresh for our customers. This applies to the range we offer, which comprises 6,000 products in 14 categories and 150 new products every week, but also to our store format.

How does Action unify its web and store network?


We have web shops in the Netherlands and in Belgium, offering products that you can only find online and not in our stores. In addition, we use our digital presence both online and in-app to inspire our customers with what they can find in our stores; we call this search online, buy offline. By default, this is a unified experience.


Conference / Keynote session
Today
1:45pm-2:15pm
We are Action
Vusion Group Theatre, Hall 4