Jerome works for Complus, a Montreal$-$based point$-$of$-$sale system. It currently competes in the wireless retail industry. Jerome is thinking of selling to computer stores. Jerome is looking at four main markets. On average, sales in the Maritimes have been shrinking in terms of logo count, but store locations are expanding due to increases in population. Central Canada is leading in annual sales at each store location. The Prairies is forecasted to be the fastest$-$growing segment due to immigration trends. Western Canada is just trailing the Prairies in market growth. By looking at these specific areas of the market, which step is Jerome performing in segmenting the market?

a$.$ Selecting a market for study

b$.$ Profiling and analyzing segments

c$.$ Selecting segmentation descriptors

d$.$ Selecting the target market