Discount chain Action opened eight new stores across Italy over the past month, reaching a total of 261 retail locations nationwide just five years after entering the country, according to a report by Il Post.
Rapid Expansion Across Italian Provinces
The Dutch-founded discount retailer inaugurated new points of sale in Bari, Messina, Trani, and Livorno, alongside provincial openings in Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, and Benevento. Another store opening in Siena brings the national network to 262 locations. For comparison, the much older Esselunga supermarket chain operates approximately 200 stores in Italy. Action first launched in the Italian market in 2021 by opening its initial two locations in Turin and Vanzaghello, near Malpensa Airport.
Outside Italy, the company operates roughly 3,500 stores across 16 European countries. Its largest footprints include over 900 locations in France, about 650 in Germany, and more than 400 in the Netherlands, alongside hundreds of branches in Poland, Spain, Belgium, and Austria.
Low Prices and Unpredictable Inventory
Action stores stock a diverse inventory ranging from candleholders and detergents to markers and hair masks. The company states that two-thirds of its products cost less than 2 euros. Shoppers encounter a mix of items displayed on essential, warehouse-style shelving. Aisles feature ninety-cent picture frames alongside seven-euro power drills, ten-euro globes, cemetery candles priced slightly above two euros, and wooden plums costing 1.50 euros.
While most goods carry low price tags, the chain also sells small household appliances such as blenders, air fryers, and small ovens priced between 50 and 70 euros, typically stocking only one or two options per category. Product offerings change frequently. Items available one week may disappear the next, though unsold seasonal items like Christmas decorations return the following year.
Logistical Efficiency and Centralized Purchasing
Action was founded in 1993 by Gerard Deen and Rob Wagemaker, who opened a small trinket shop in Enkhuizen in northern Netherlands. They expanded their footprint using a business model inspired by German discounters like Aldi. In 2011, the founders sold a majority stake to the British private equity fund 3i for 114 million pounds, equivalent to about 131 million euros. By the end of 2025, the German economic newspaper Handelsblatt reported that 3i valued its stake at 188 times its initial investment, or approximately 21 billion pounds (about 24 billion euros).
The company maintains low consumer prices through centralized, high-volume purchasing designed to supply 3,500 identical stores. According to the Dutch financial daily The Financial Daily, 95 percent of the product assortment remains identical across every store in all 16 countries. Action leases its retail real estate rather than owning it, favoring peripheral suburban locations with ample parking over high-rent city centers. Stores generally measure between 800 and 1,000 square meters. Commercial director Michael van Melick told Het Financieele Dagblad that the ideal Action product is something many people need but find too expensive elsewhere.