Marketing & Format Trainee

Marketing & Format Trainee

Action is active in 15 markets, and we continue to grow. This growth also brings new opportunities within Marketing. As a Marketing Trainee in Format & Marketing, you join an 18-month programme that helps you build the skills and confidence to become a strong marketing professional. From our headquarters in Zwaagdijk, you learn how store format and marketing support our fast-growing organisation and how we work with teams across the business. You take on real tasks from day one, explore store layouts, customer journeys, and retail innovations, and help turn insights into practical improvements across our markets. By the end of the traineeship, you have developed a solid understanding of how strategy turns into execution and take the next step in your career.

Your daily tasks

Your traineeship is built around one central challenge: how do you create a store format that is simple enough to apply everywhere, yet strong enough to drive commercial results? You will explore that question from three different angles across three phases.

Phase 1 – Foundation (Months 1–6)

You will embed yourself in the Format team and get hands-on with how Action’s store concept is designed and documented. Working closely with Real Estate, Store Materials, and Commercial colleagues, you will learn how a store layout comes to life – from the first footprint assessment to the final blueprint. Key activities include:

• Spend time with different teams across Format, Real Estate, and Store Materials to understand how the store concept is built end-to-end.
• Assess and document store layouts, mapping how the physical proportions of each store shape the format decisions.
• Support the creation and maintenance of store format blueprints and layout guidelines.
• Learn how the construction book (Real Estate), format book, and store materials book connect and depend on each other.
• Contribute to presentation guidelines for commercial reviews and internal alignment sessions.

Phase 2 – Skilling Up (Months 7–12)

With a solid understanding of the format framework, you will move into active project support – working alongside the Merchandise team and contributing to live initiatives. You will see how format decisions play out in the day-to-day commercial game. Key activities include:

• Support the Merchandise team on format-related projects, including material testing and store rollouts.
• Help translate format guidelines into practical store materials that can be applied across all countries.
• Assist in building and refining the commercial presentation toolkit used in daily and weekly team reviews.
• Contribute to handover documentation, ensuring guidelines are clear and usable for Real Estate and store teams.
• Identify gaps in current standards and propose scalable solutions.

Phase 3 – Creating Impact (Months 13–18)

In the final phase, you will take ownership in one of the Format development projects. from Check out area to store communication. You will combine analysis, stakeholder collaboration, and creative thinking to develop a standard that can be implemented across Action’s store network. Key activities include:

• Lead analysis of the self-checkout pilot: evaluate customer flow, commercial opportunities, and operational impact.
• Assess impulse furniture options near the checkout and develop a standardised recommendation.
• Create a scalable implementation standard that works across different store sizes and country contexts.
• Present your findings and proposal to relevant stakeholders in Format, Commercial, and Real Estate.
• Document outcomes and hand over a workable blueprint for future rollout.

Your team

You will join the Format, Marketing & Digital department – a creative and commercially driven team at the heart of Action’s store experience. From store layout development and in-store signage to digital touchpoints and materials, this team ensures that every Action store – whether in the Netherlands, France, or Poland – delivers a consistent and recognisable experience.

The work is tangible. You will see the results of your efforts in real stores, used by real customers. You will collaborate with colleagues from Real Estate, Commercial, and Merchandise, and you will quickly learn that great format work is equal parts analytical, creative, and pragmatic. Curious about your new colleagues? Your manager, mentor, and teammates can’t wait to support you during your traineeship.

What you offer

You have a commercial mindset and an instinct for structure. You look at a store and immediately think about how it could work better – for the customer, for the team, and for the business. You are pragmatic, hands-on, and not afraid to get into the details. At the same time, you can step back and think about scalability: how do we make this work for every store, in every country? You communicate clearly, work well across teams, and bring energy to everything you do.

Your background:

• Completed HBO or WO degree, preferably in Business Economics (Bedrijfseconomie), Commerce, Retail Management, or Marketing.
• Starter level – no prior professional experience required.
• Affinity with retail and physical store environments; you get excited walking into a well-designed store.
• Strong in Microsoft Office, particularly PowerPoint and Excel.
• Good command of English (spoken and written); Dutch is an advantage.

Necessary competencies:

• Commercial mindset – you link every format decision back to the customer experience and business impact.
• Pragmatic and hands-on – you find workable solutions and follow them through, even when the brief is complex.
• Structured thinking – you can organise complexity into clear guidelines, blueprints, and standards.
• Collaborative – you work comfortably across Real Estate, Commercial, Merchandise, and Digital teams.
• Strong communicator – able to present ideas clearly to different audiences, from project teams to senior stakeholders.

What we offer

From our headquarters in the Netherlands, you will have an impact across the whole of Europe. Action's growth means you can always take steps to develop as a professional, whether that means a certain position, an interesting innovation project, or new skills. And you can do all that in a culture where we truly embrace our shared values: customer focus, teamwork, simplicity, discipline, cost-consciousness and respect.

• A competitive salary (based on a 38-hour working week)
• 24 days holiday with the option to buy five additional days (based on 38 hours per week)
• 15% staff discount on your purchases at Action
• Collective health insurance and travel allowance (Zwaagdijk is reachable from Amsterdam by car in just 30 minutes on uncongested roads)