Exist.ru, an online store specialising in car parts sales, has topped the Russian online retail market in terms of revenues, Vedomosti daily reported on October 27, citing a study by Data Insights research company and other retailers.

The company's turnover is estimated at RUB35.4bn ($545mn) in the first six months of 2015, making it the largest Russian retailer online.

Exist.ru was founded in 1999 and currently processes 50,000 orders for auto parts daily. Analysts surveyed by Vedomosti attributed the company's growing revenue to currency effects, with ruble devaluation increasing the costs of parts for foreign cars.

Car owners are using third-party alternatives and unauthorised retailers to compensate for the increased cost, Alexei Leshchenko official dealer for BMW, Renault and other foreign brands Modus told the newspaper.

At the same time, demand for parts for repair could have increased as sales of new vehicles have been steadily declining throughout 2014 and 2015.

Sales of Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) in Russia continued to decline in January-September, posting a 33% y/y drop to 1.78mn units, according to the October 8 release of the Association of European Businesses (AEB), which monitors the car industry.

After a slight decline slowdown in August to -19.4% y/y, LCV sales sank 28.6% y/y to 0.14mn units in September alone.

Previously, the improvement of the car market was under question due to currency rate fluctuations in July and August and their strong effect on the demand of high-value goods.