Fleece blankets and heaters: Action benefits from energy crisis

The end of the corona measures also had a positive effect on Action’s results. As a result, the retail chain sold more and customers returned more often than in 2021.

“Customers’ buying behavior has changed,” says Action spokesperson Frank van Rutten. “They now make a different assessment, they now know better where to find us for daily groceries such as detergent and soap. They pay closer attention to the price and we notice that in the sales.”

He has seen for some time that products to keep you warm are popular with the Action customer. “Fleece blankets indeed, but at one point we also sold a lot of electric heaters.”

Cheapest stay

The turnover of Action stores that have been open for more than a year increased by 18.1 percent. Including the 280 new stores, turnover increased by 30 percent. The chain is now active throughout Europe and has stores in ten countries. There are 407 branches of the bargain chain in the Netherlands.

Top woman Hajir Hajji already warned in March last year that Action itself would not escape price increases. She emphasized at the time that it was mainly important for the chain to remain the cheapest. “That’s what we pay close attention to.”

According to Action, it is impossible to say to what extent price increases have boosted turnover in the past year, since a large part of the range is constantly changing and is therefore only available in stores for a limited time.

“We see an increase in daily groceries such as detergent, soap, toilet paper and kitchen rolls that is up to 30 percent higher than in previous years,” Hajji said at the beginning of November.

Pay raise

The chain, with its head office in Zwaagdijk in North Holland, does not provide specific figures about the Dutch market. According to Action, the picture is more or less the same in all markets. The company is not yet releasing earnings figures. They will follow in March.

Action employees benefit from the good course of business. This year, they will receive 10 percent more wages. Of this, 8 percent is structural and 2 percent is one-off. This means that the one-off wage increase will no longer apply in 2024, unless new agreements are made about it later.