We have been writing our story as a trading company since the early 1990s, when the free market first came to Poland in the course of the systemic transformation. Like many other Polish IT companies of that era, we took our first business steps at the now defunct Warsaw Computer Exchange, once the biggest street market for hardware and software vendors in Poland. It was the cradle of Polish entrepreneurship and technology industry that gave birth to Action and a number of other companies now recognisable not only in Poland but also worldwide.
By closely following the global market trends and the change in the trading model (emergence of e-commerce), Action has become a major trading group offering a range of +50,000 products in a number of various categories and under different models of cooperation with business partners (B2B) and end customers (B2C).
According to the strategy update, CG ACTION S.A. is an E-commerce Distribution Centre with a business model based on the development of two traditional markets, the wholesale (B2B) and the retail (B2C) markets, into professional and efficient online trading according to the slogan: Turning commerce into e-commerce. Here more about the new strategy.
ACTION S.A. received a distinction in the "Most Effective Company 2023" category of the third edition of the “Good Company” programme organised by the Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers. The aim of the project, which is designed for the sector of Small, Medium and Large Enterprises, is to honour the most resilient companies in each of the Polish voivodeships.
The Company continued to pursue the successful business strategy focused on ongoing development of competences as a multi-brand supplier to e-commerce. This resulted in a range of new projects, including further expansion of the offering and acquisition of new B2B and BC2 customers in the Home & Living and Pets segments, as well as addition of electromobility consultancy as a new service offered by Action Business Centre.
In the year marking the 30th anniversary of the Company’s existence, ACTION S.A. posted recorded financial performance thanks to the dynamic growth in the areas of exports, sales support in the group of advanced products, e-commerce projects and own brands.
In February 2020, the Court announced the positive outcome of the vote on the arrangement. Due to the pandemic, the final court hearing concerning the approval of the arrangement concluded with the creditors, originally scheduled for April 2020, was cancelled. In December, the Company received the final court approval of the arrangement, which closed more than four years of remedial proceedings at ACTION S.A.
The Company successfully negotiated an optimal arrangement proposal for all the parties. Subsequently, forms were sent to the creditors to vote on the arrangement proposal.
To ensure business continuity and repayment of the arrangement with creditors, the Company fully implemented and fulfilled the conditions of the Restructuring Plan for ACTION S.A.
The company's restructuring has resulted in Action's new strategy, which is based on three main pillars: the best price, value added distribution, and strong own-brands.
As a result of a number of unfavourable external factors, the Company was forced to file a petition for recovery proceedings. The court accepted the petition. Consequently, since 1 August 2016, the company has been under the protection of recovery proceedings (one of restructuring proceedings).
As part of our efforts to diversify the business of the ACTION Capital Group, we have launched two new projects: Actionmed – a company distributing IT solutions for medicine, and Active&Food- an exporter of Polish food to China.
In 2014, the company increased its commitments in Devil GmbH and became its sole owner. To emphasize the direction of changes in the company’s operations of Devil and obligatory new, worldwide distribution standards, the name of the company was also changed to Action Europe GmbH.
In 2013 ACTION S.A. increased its operations onto the German IT market. The German branch of the company was based on Devil AG’s assets.
Our own brand ActiveJet became the title sponsor of the cycling group ActiveJet Team. In the 2014 season, the Group will participate in more than 40 cycling races.
The numerous correct business decisions, including entering distribution agreements with telecoms and expanding the product range by adding new product categories, drove ACTION S.A. Capital Group's revenue to a record-breaking level.
The numerous correct business decisions, including entering distribution agreements with telecoms and expanding the product range by adding new product categories, drove ACTION S.A. Capital Group's revenue to a record-breaking level. Its private brand ActiveJet performed particularly well. Until the end of 2013, ActiveJet shall remain the main sponsor of the Legia Warsaw Football Club.
ACTION S.A. introduces Actis, its new private brand of non-OEM printing consumables, dedicated both for tenders and for broad distribution. The Company sees this launch as another step taken to strengthen its leadership on the Polish alternative consumables market.
In response to the changing needs of the market, ACTION S.A. focused on e-commerce projects in its strategy. Developing online sales channels gives the Company a competitive edge.
Gram.pl is a Polish community portal focusing on PC games and the broadly defined electronic entertainment. The site also features an online shop with a rich selection of games, PC accessories and gaming consoles. Gram.pl has drop shipping points across entire Poland.
Sferis is a nationwide retail chain which offers mobile solutions and technologies useful in everyday life. Since 2010, the chain also offers brand cosmetics at attractive prices.
ACTION S. won a tender announced by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva in 2010 and was awarded a 13.8m zloty contract for delivery of its private brand Actina Solar servers, which has been the largest implementation project of that type to have ever been completed by a Polish company.
Completed construction of the logistics centre at Zamienie, one of the technologically most advanced facilities of that kind in Europe. With that new facility, the company tripled the maximum stock handling performance without any increase in the number of its crew, increasing the number of fulfilments from 15,000 to 45,000 per day, which was attained by employing the latest technology. The companies of the ACTION capital group can now operate on more than 25,000 sqm of storage space.
E-commerce projects launched are based on the synergy between the Group's affiliates.
Further growth of the Company required appropriate logistics base. A high storage warehouse was commissioned in 2007, paving the way for the cutting-edge solution the Company has gradually implemented in the subsequent years.
In 2007 the Group acquired Sferis, an online shop and a chain of specialised retail shops selling computer products, consumer electronics and home appliances. Expansion of the distribution centre by another warehouse building, added as a step towards a new distribution channel: Sferis Further growth of the Company required adequate logistics facilities. A high storage warehouse was commissioned in 2007, paving the way for the cutting-edge solution the Company has gradually implemented in the subsequent years.
In 2007 the Group acquired Sferis, an online shop and a chain of specialised retail shops selling computer products, consumer electronics and home appliances.
Parkiet, the Warsaw Stock Exchange's magazine, dubbed ACTION's debut as one of the most successful IPOs of 2006. The funding the Company obtained by means of the public share issue boosted its further growth, making ACTION one of the most dynamically performing and trusted publicly traded companies in the Polish industry. As a member of the Association of Stock Exchange Issuers (SEG), ACTION S.A. has been applying the rules of corporate governance from its very start.
The dynamic growth of the Company encouraged its owners to build a new head office for ACTION at Zamienie near Warsaw. Becoming a leader in the IT products distribution business would not have been possible without state-of-the-art customer service solutions. Implementing an automated order fulfilment system for online buyers streamlined the originally conventional process.
That prestigious distinction is awarded to the individuals with special achievements in management of IT companies and in implementation of new ideas or projects and - last but not least - to fair players.
One of the advantages of the Company's leadership is their ability to see new trends and market opportunities before these are discovered by competitors. They used that skill in 2001 and 2002, when a decision was made to include high-margin private brands into ACTION's product range. Combining the excellent quality of the goods offered and their attractive prices proved an effective recipe for success. ActiveJet consumables and Actina products are still popular among users and keep winning new awards (such as Consumer's Laurel, Quality of the Year), which confirm their best quality in the respective categories.
Within five years, the small firm ACTION has become a company making a billion Polish zloty revenue a year. It was one of the breakthroughs that moved the Company closer to the goal its founders set at its very start in the early 1990s: become number one on the market.
Piotr Bieliński, the company's CEO and its main founder, started his business adventure in the 1990s by selling software for Amiga computers. His first achievements and the solid trust he earned with his business environment soon led to the formation of a company called ACTION. The hard work and the enthusiasm of the people involved in its growth made its proposal increasingly attractive, as the company was expanding its product range, which included computer peripherals. The Company's goodwill was also gradually rising due to the growing customer base.