Our corporate responsibility

At Action, we welcome around 17.3 million customers per week across 12 countries. Added to which are our more than 72,000 employees and more than 6,000 products per store – which we purchase, store and transport throughout Europe – and you will get an idea of the impact we have on our environment. As a result, we are very aware of this impact on society and the environment, so have developed the Action Social Responsibility (ASR) strategy.

Action Social Responsibility

The aim of our ASR strategy is to ensure that our success as a commercial company does not come at the expense of human rights, corporate responsibility or the environment, whether in our own business operations and across our entire supply chain. The strategy is based on four pillars: Product, People, Society and the Environment.

Fair products at a fair price

Despite our low prices, we make no concessions when it comes to the quality, safety or production conditions of our products. All our products meet the relevant standards of the countries we operate in and are also produced in accordance with our Ethical Sourcing Policy. In plain language, this means that if a given product does not have the right price/quality ratio and the right production conditions, we will not sell it in our stores.

We take care of our people

Action wants to be a good employer. We can only continue to build our company with passionate employees, who feel safe, appreciated and inspired. We invest a lot in this, in all kinds of ways. An example? We have a Scholarship Fund to support Action employees who cannot afford their children's education. At Action, we believe in development for everyone and we believe that money should not stand in the way of a good start on the labour market.

“My son really wanted to study Finance & Control at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, but it was very difficult for us to pay for an education like this. When I heard about the Action scholarship scheme, I took the plunge. We both whooped with joy when we received the confirmation letter. Which employer does something like that for its employees?!”

- Sabine, Action Amsterdam Store Assistant

As far as we can, we minimise our impact on the environment

We are aware of our impact on the environment and take responsibility for it. We are constantly discovering new ways to lower our impact.

For example, we only use electric vehicles at our distribution centres, and all our distribution centres are equipped with LED lighting.

We are also reducing our in-store energy costs by using LED lights and we're expanding our recycling. In addition, we are testing a recycling station in the Netherlands to encourage customers to dispose of recyclable materials in the right way.

We transport our goods in a fuel-efficient way because our double-decker trucks transport 60% more rolling containers than traditional trucks and all our drivers are trained to drive responsibly and as economically as possible.

We contribute to society

We help in both the local communities where our stores are located and in the countries where we produce. Through our impulsive growth, we create thousands of jobs every year and because our stores attract many customers, there's knock-on benefit to other local stores too.

In addition, we support SOS Children's Villages, an organisation that provides children all over the world with the care and safety they need to grow up and develop in a healthy way. Every Action Store and team in the DCs sponsors a child in Asia. The offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and France donate an amount to SOS organisations in other countries to help children there too.

Want to read more about Action Social Responsibility and how we implement the four pillars of Product, People, Environment and Society? Check out https://company.action.com/sustainability-new/