A Russian online store specializing in auto parts sales, Exist.ru, has become the nation’s largest Internet shopping site in terms of revenue, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday, citing a recently published study.
With an estimated turnover of 35.4 billion rubles ($545 million) in the first half of 2015, Exist.ru was ranked by Internet research agency Data Insight as Russia’s largest Internet retailer in a ranking based on data provided by the retailers themselves, and the agency’s own research.
Founded in 1999, Exist.ru is one of Russia’s oldest online retailers. Today, the company claims to process 50,000 orders for auto parts daily, according to data on Exist.ru’s website.
Analysts polled by Vedomosti attribute Exist.ru’s growing revenue to the devaluation of the ruble, which lost nearly half its value against the U.S. dollar last year, driving up the costs of parts for foreign-made automobiles.
This has motivated car owners to save money by looking for third-party alternatives to original manufacturer spare parts sold by unauthorized retailers, according to Alexei Leshchenko, chairman of the board of directors of Modus, an official dealer for BMW, Renault and other foreign-made cars, Vedomosti reported.