When writing a paragraph, I face a phrase that "sales are less likely to increase in an increased competition market", I am trying to paraphrase the bolded phrase to one noun phrase or similar to that?
I think of "an increase in sales is unlikely" but it seems that it is still too long
I actually think that "an increase in sales is unlikely" is a perfectly reasonable and natural way to phrase what you are apparently trying to say, and would probably be my recommendation.
Alternately, you could say "sales increases are unlikely" (technically, "an increase in sales" is talking about the state of sales being higher than they were before, whereas "sales increases" are talking about the events/transitions of sales going from a lower point to a higher point, but they are often used somewhat interchangeably when talking about forward-looking statements)
