Wholesale Trade Industry Classification Codes (SIC & NAICS)
Wholesale Trade Industry Codes
Updated: 2025
The Wholesale Trade sector includes establishments engaged in selling goods to retailers, industrial users, commercial businesses, institutions, contractors, and other wholesalers. This sector covers distributors of durable and nondurable goods, merchant wholesalers, business-to-business suppliers, and wholesale intermediaries supporting supply chain operations. Wholesale classifications support channel segmentation, procurement analysis, distributor network mapping, inventory management, and regional trade flow assessments. Accurate SIC and NAICS codes ensure consistent rollups for market sizing, sales territories, and industry benchmarking.
SIC Coverage: 50–51 — Wholesale Trade (Durable & Nondurable Goods)
NAICS Range: 42
SICCODE.com assigns industries to the Wholesale Trade sector when their primary activity is reselling merchandise to business customers rather than to end consumers. SIC codes are included when the organization functions mainly as a merchant wholesaler, distributor, broker, or wholesale electronic market serving retailers, manufacturers, institutions, or other business-to-business buyers.
SIC vs. NAICS Structure for Wholesale Trade
| SIC Structure | NAICS Structure |
| SIC divides wholesale trade into SIC 50 — Durable Goods and SIC 51 — Nondurable Goods, grouping distributors by the type and longevity of the merchandise sold. | NAICS Sector 42 — Wholesale Trade — organizes merchant wholesalers of durable and nondurable goods alongside wholesale electronic markets and agents/brokers. |
| SIC emphasizes product category and traditional warehouse-based distribution models, reflecting legacy industrial and trade patterns. | NAICS supports analysis of modern wholesale operations, including electronic markets, platform-based intermediaries, and specialized wholesale agencies. |
| Wholesale agents and brokers appear within broader product-oriented categories, making it harder to isolate intermediary-only business models. | NAICS explicitly identifies wholesale agents, brokers, and electronic markets, enabling separate analysis of commission-based intermediaries and marketplace operators. |
Major SIC Subsectors (Linked to Official 2-Digit Pages)
NAICS Structure Within Wholesale Trade (Linked)
In SIC, wholesale trade is split into durable and nondurable goods distributors, covering machinery, equipment, supplies, food, apparel, chemicals, and many other product categories. NAICS consolidates these activities into Sector 42, providing detailed categories for merchant wholesalers, wholesale electronic markets, and wholesale agents and brokers. Together, these classification systems support analysis of distributor footprints, supply chain channels, pricing dynamics, and B2B trade flows across industries and regions.
Insights & Research for Wholesale Trade
Wholesale classifications help identify merchant wholesalers, independent distributors, and B2B channels across major product categories and customer segments.
SIC & NAICS codes distinguish between long-lasting goods such as equipment and machinery and fast-moving nondurables like food, apparel, and consumables for more precise market analysis.
Procurement teams use classification to benchmark spend categories, estimate industrial demand, map supplier specialization, and structure sourcing strategies.
Wholesale codes support studies of pricing power, margin patterns, buyer–supplier dynamics, consolidation trends, and channel conflict across distribution networks.
How These Classifications Are Used
Wholesale Trade SIC and NAICS codes are used by distributors, manufacturers, retailers, procurement teams, insurers, lenders, and analysts to categorize B2B trade activities. They underpin sales territory planning, channel strategy, supply chain optimization, rebate and incentive programs, credit and risk evaluation, and inventory management. Accurate classification ensures that distributor directories, supplier databases, and market analyses correctly reflect wholesale operations, product categories, and trading relationships across industries.
Get Help With Wholesale Trade Classification
If you need assistance determining the correct SIC or NAICS code for a wholesale business or distributor, our classification specialists can review product lines, customer segments, and distribution models to confirm the appropriate classification.
Related Classification Clusters
- NAICS 31–33 — Manufacturing (upstream producers and suppliers feeding wholesale channels)
- NAICS 44–45 — Retail Trade (downstream outlets served by wholesale distributors and B2B suppliers)
Reviewed and verified by the SICCODE.com Expert Review Team.