Smile Rainbow

The chain of stores "Smile of the Rainbow," since 2004 known to the St. Petersburg buyer, is a sample of drogery. Convenience stores selling non-food products for women - perfumes, cosmetics and household chemicals.

As of December 2020, under the brand "Smile of the Rainbow" there are more than 850 stores with a total sales area of ​ ​ more than 100 thousand square meters. m. In more than 20 regions of Russia.

Photo: retail.ru

Information Technology in the Smile of the Rainbow

2023:20% Year-to-date IT growth

According to September 2023, the number of employees of the Information Technology Department (DIT) in the federal network of the Rainbow Smile Drogery increased by 20% compared to the same period in 2022. The company announced this on October 2, 2023.

As of October 2023, more than 200 employees of Rainbow Smiles are engaged in the company's IT tasks, including both the development of an online store and a mobile application, and increasing labor productivity by automating internal systems.

In more than 20 years of history, Rainbow Smile has formed a powerful IT background, including the transition from a functional development model to a product one, as well as the creation of a digital business ecosystem that affects the company's key performance.

Since the beginning of 2023, projects for the development of e-com and internal systems "Rainbow Smiles" have attracted about 40 new IT specialists to the company. Each of them solves a certain range of tasks and leads fixed projects, which allows you to obtain high-quality results of work on schedule, reducing recycling and excluding switching between business areas. Given the new projects and tasks of the company, we invite specialists in the field of e-commerce, information systems and databases: developers, QA engineers, as well as products to the IT team of "Rainbow Smiles," - said Maxim Bekish, director of DIT "Rainbow Smiles."

In the "Smile of the Rainbow" IT specialists can work remotely and according to an individual schedule. When employed at the company's offices in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan, the adaptation period usually takes place in person. After that, the employee and manager determine the optimal work format for performing tasks: in the office, remote or hybrid.

History

2024

Opening a store in Bishkek

The chain of self-care stores "Smile of the Rainbow" continues to expand. The brand opened a store in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The store became the first in the region and was launched under the franchise model.

"Smile of the Rainbow," with an area of ​ ​ 120 sq.m., opened its doors in the city center at the address: Bishkek, st. April 7, 202. "Smile" became the first drogery format store in the country.

The expansion of the network in Central Asia is an important stage for the company, which confirms the high interest in the brand from foreign partners and consumers. The store in Bishkek offers a large assortment of consumer goods from more than 9 thousand items.

The franchise model of cooperation made it possible to accelerate the entry into a new market by combining the expertise of the network and the knowledge of partners about the market needs in the region. The company aims to further increase the number of stores in Kyrgyzstan - in the first year of operation on the market, the chain plans to open about 20 new outlets in the country.

Opening more than 400 stores in a year

The chain of self-care stores "Smile of the Rainbow" opened more than 400 stores at the end of 2024. According to analysts, this is almost 30% more than in 2023. In total, more than 1,600 stores have already opened in the country. The company announced this on January 20, 2025.

The focal regions for the network were Moscow and the Moscow region. Also, you can now visit the "Rainbow Smile" and buy your favorite goods for beauty and a cozy home in the Sverdlovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Ryazan and Tula regions. The number of stores in these regions in total is 50 outlets, with an average area of ​ ​ 120 sq.m.

It is expected that in 2025 the network will continue to expand its presence in Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as delight even more buyers in the Urals and Bashkortostan.

Opening a store in the center of St. Petersburg

On December 24, 2024, in the center of St. Petersburg at the address: embankment of the Fontanka River, house 29/66, letter A, a store of the Rainbow Smile chain was opened in a special beauty format. The store embodied an updated style and opened a separate hall with decorative cosmetics for customers.

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Фото: Rainbow smile

This store is located at the intersection of the embankment of the Fontanka River and Nevsky Prospekt. The updated interior design reflects modern trends: minimalistic shapes, current colors and a bright retail area with bright windows. The updated space design is designed to facilitate navigation and make the shopping process more enjoyable.

The assortment of the store is formed on the basis of many years of experience of the chain and includes as of December 2024 more than 12 thousand items of goods for self-care and a cozy house at affordable prices. All beauty products in the store are collected in one place - here customers will be able to find products of both popular brands and exclusive brands, the full lines of which are presented only in the "Smile of the Rainbow."

"Lenta" bought "Smile of the Rainbow"

In December 2024, it became known that the retail chain Tape"" acquired 100% of the voting shares of JSC "Trading House" Era"- the owner of the federal chain of stores" Smile of the Rainbow, "operating in the Drogeri format.

According to the press service of Lenta, Smile of the Rainbow is the second largest chain of Drogeri stores in Russia and includes 1,535 outlets with a total area of ​ ​ 204 thousand square meters. m, as well as three distribution centers. In the first nine months of 2024, the company's retail revenue reached ₽29,6 billion, an increase of 17.4%.

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Фото: Rainbow Smile

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia approved the petition of Lenta LLC to approve the deal. Financing of the purchase will be carried out mainly at the expense of the company's own funds until June 30, 2025. MKPAO Lenta will begin consolidating the acquired business in December 2024.

Vladimir Sorokin, CEO of the Lenta Group of Companies, stressed that the purchase of the Rainbow Smile is a logical step towards transforming Lenta into a multi-format player. This deal allows us to simultaneously consolidate positions in the segment of cosmetics and household chemicals.

Upon completion of the transaction, the Rainbow Smiles business will continue to function as a separate format, while maintaining the main operational processes and the existing brand. The network plans to expand its presence in the Moscow region.

The acquisition is carried out as part of Lenta's transformation strategy and will allow the company to become one of the leaders in the drogerie segment in the perfume and cosmetic market, the volume of which by the end of 2024 may exceed ₽1 trillion. The chain's stores are located in the Central, North-West, Volga and Ural regions.

Lenta plans to use the experience of successful integration of the Monetka network, while maintaining the operating model and management autonomy of Rainbow Smiles to further develop the drogery format.^[1]

2023: Change of ownership

The new owner of the St. Petersburg retail chain "Smile of the Rainbow" was the former top manager of the structures of the founder of Severstal Alexei Mordashov - Natalya Kopylkova. This is stated in the reporting of the network manager LLC Drogery Retail for 2022. Kommersant got acquainted with this document and issued an article on June 6, 2023.

The general director of "Smile Rainbow" Alexey Baulin confirmed the publication of the change of the owner of the network, refusing detailed comments. At the same time, Sergey Logunov became the director of the head structure of the Rainbow Smile, the Cypriot Ulybka Investments Ltd. According to the publication, he also runs the Cyprus Bestglide Ltd and Biscone Ltd, which the media associate with Mordashov.

The network "Smile of the Rainbow" changed its owner

Infoline-Analytics CEO Mikhail Burmistrov believes that further integration of Rainbow Smile and Lenta could be promising for the development of both retailers. As an example, the expert cites the experience of Magnit, which, in addition to the product chain of the same name, manages the Magnet Cosmetics drogery network.

However, the feasibility of merging Lenta and Smile of the Rainbow remains in question, mister Burmistrov said. In his opinion, Lenta now has higher priority issues related to improving the main business indicators amid falling traffic and sales at hypermarkets.

Kommersant, citing its sources, writes that the purchase of Smile Rainbow was also interested in the Lenta network, the main shareholder of which is Severgroup. Lenta declined to comment at the request of the newspaper.

The chain of stores of the Drogeri format "Smile of the Rainbow" specializes in the sale of cosmetics and household chemicals. According to Infoline-Analytics estimates, by the beginning of 2023, the retailer ranked seventh in Russia in terms of sales in the cosmetics and drogery segment.^[2]

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