By the time BMW and Mercedes Benz entered the mini-SUV market, there were many competitors, sales had peaked, and profits were declining. These firms entered the market during the stage of the product life cycle. 1. Introduction2. Leveling3. Maturity4. Growth5. Decline

Maturity.

Explanation:

Product life cycle can be defined as the different stages that a product goes through from the time of its inception into the market to to the time it is removed from the market. The four stages involved in product life cycle include:

- Intoduction stage

- Growth stage

- Maturity stage

- Decline stage

The maturity stage of product life cycle occurs after the introduction and growth stage. In this stage the sales growth begins to reduce at a high rate,decrease in market share and profit. During this stage organisations look for ways to make their different products more appealing to the potential consumers. Maturity stage Is the longest stage in the product life cycle.

3) Maturity

Explanation:

The four stages of a product's life cycle are:

The maturity stage happens when a product has consolidated itself in the market, sales reach their highest point and competing companies will fight to keep their existing market shares because the market has stopped growing. Any increase in sales, means a competitor is losing market share.

This is also the most profitable stage, since marketing efforts are less intensive and focus more on defensive strategies. Many companies start to develop adaptations of their original products to keep consumer interest high, e.g. Diet Coke, then Coke Zero.

The length of this stage varies a lot depending on the industry, e.g. electronics last a very short time, while Coke and Tide have been up there for many years.

a manufacturer of printed circuit boards uses exponential smoothing with trend to forecast monthly demand of its product. at the end of december, the company wishes to forecast sales for january. the estimate of trend through november has been 200 additional boards sold per month. average sales have been around 1000 units per month. the demand for december was 1100 units. the company uses α = 0.20 and β = 0.10. make a forecast including trend for the month of january.