What is an NAICS Number?
NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Codes are used to classify and measure businesses in the United States, Canada and Mexico. They are often used along with or instead of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. NAICS replaced SIC codes for the most part, but both systems are still in use today. NAICS Codes are self-assigned, meaning businesses select the code that best represents their primary business activity; some businesses may use more than one code depending on what line of business they are in.
How to Read an NAICS Code
NAICS Codes are 6-digits long and include information that defines a business’s industry. Breaking down each part of the code helps you to gain insight and better understand your target markets. The example below illustrates what each number group stands for; the first two digits represent the main sector of the business, the next three digits subsector, and so on:
After identifying an industry’s main sector, NAICS shows more in-depth information, including 99 subsectors, 312 industry groups, 713 industries and 1,066 U.S. industries. The third digit in a NAICS Code is the subsector, the fourth digit is the industry group level, the fifth digit is the international industry level, and the sixth digit is reserved for U.S. designation.
Why are NAICS Codes Important?
NAICS Codes identify businesses by type, providing in-depth information on industries to give you customer insight for improved marketing and sales initiatives. Appending NAICS Codes to your customer lists allow you to focus on those who are more likely to be interested in your products/services and help you get to know businesses and prospects better.
Why Melissa?
Melissa has been helping businesses with their data quality needs for 40 years by offering solutions that not only clean customer data, but enrich data to give businesses greater insight and help them uncover new business opportunities.
Melissa Direct’s Data Append Services include our NAICS / SIC Code Service, which classifies U.S., Mexico and Canadian businesses into industry-specific categories. Simply upload your file and our Service Bureau codes all your business records to provide you with better intelligence about your target markets.
Listware is Melissa’s all-in-one data cleansing tool that easily cleans, dedupes, and enriches your customer data to increase deliverability, improve response rates, and better optimize your marketing and sales efforts. Listware is available online, as an Excel plugin, or open source desktop software.
Melissa’s Global Business Web API implements the Business Coder Web service to return detailed firmographics on over 25 million U.S. businesses, including standardized company name, job title, contact information (name, address, phone, and email address), SIC/NAICS, employee size, stock ticker abbreviation, sales volume, and more.