Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Trade and Distribution, grade: 64%, University of Ulster, course: BSc Business Studies, language: English, abstract: Car retailing is an increasing challenge with the steady decline in the size of dealer networks. Those that continue to operate are looking at ways of improving profitability. The internet has suffered from difficulties in this sector, as evidenced by the departure of companies such as Autoquake and Tesco Cars. To compare the offline and online sales of Cars consideration of the potential reach of consumers is required, looking at the growth of the internet and potential customer base. Internet usage has grown from 16 million users in 1995 to 3,035 million users in 2014. The use of Smart Phones for web search is growing at an immense rate. In countries such as Africa where Internet coverage is sparse, data usage is being pushed by organisations such as Huawei and their $25 mobile phone campaign. This shift will mean that smartphone technology will be the platform of the future in testing, purchasing, and servicing cars.