UK Experian SIC Codes DataPlus
Standard Industry Classification
(SIC) codes have been in use since the 1930s, when the
first industry codes in the US were established by the
Central Statistical Board of the United States. Its
charge was "to develop a plan of classification
of various types of statistical data by industries and
to promote the general adoption of such classification
as the standard classification of the Federal Government."
The SIC was established to promote
uniformity and comparability of data collected and published
by agencies within the U.S. government, state agencies,
trade associations, and research organisations. It was
developed as an establishment based industry classification
system that classified each establishment (defined as
a single physical location at which economic activity
occurs) according to its primary activity.
Since the first code was developed,
UK versions have been established, and both the UK and
US codes have undergone revisions to reflect changes
in the industry types within the respective economies.
There are now four main SIC codes in widespread use
globally, two for the US (US72 and US87) and two for
the UK (UK80 and UK92). All four SIC codes are provided
with the SIC codes DataPlus data set.
There are four main SIC codes
in widespread use globally, two for the US (US72 and
US87) and two for the UK (UK80 and UK92). All four SIC
codes are provided with the SIC codes DataPlus data
set. Some minor revisions to the UK92 SIC codes were
made in 2003 but these changes have been incorporated
into this data set.
Alternative classification systems
from Yellow Pages and Thomson Directories are also available.
These are specific to the UK but have the benefit of
being more detailed than the available SIC Codes.
What are SIC Codes used
for?
The primary application of SIC codes is for
market segmentation and profiling purposes whereby codes
are assigned to customer records, and market segments
identified on the basis of industry clusters. This enables
users to target clusters more effectively and position
their products and/or services more effectively.
Knowing Your Customers
– Market Segmentation and Profiling
It is a key requirement of the modern business world
to understand your customer base – knowing who
you sell to and what their buying characteristics and
patterns are enables companies to better target the
profitable and should-be-profitable parts of the business.
SIC codes provide companies with an insight into the
markets that they sell their products and services in
to, allowing them to identify key market segments based
on industry clusters and combine this with other profiling
information (purchase patterns etc) to establish the
profile(s) of the ideal target customer for their business.
This enables companies to target clusters more effectively
and position their products and/or services more effectively
as a result.
SIC codes can be appended in batch
mode to a legacy database of customers using QuickAddress
Business Batch, enabling companies to quickly establish
the market segments that lie unknown within their customer
base. New customer and prospect records can then be
populated at the point of capture with SIC code data
using QuickAddress Business Pro, ensuring that the market
analysis will always reflect the real-time situation,
enabling changing trends to be identified when they
first begin to take place. It also helps with identifying
target prospects at the first point of contact, so that
they can be prioritised appropriately and assigned to
the correct sales teams.
In-house v Bureau Services
– Saving Time and Money
The ability to append SIC code data in batch mode and
capture SIC codes as new records are added provides
an attractive alternative to using bureau services to
obtain this data, as issues such as data security, data
downtime and cost are often prevalent when using bureau
services.
Data Format
The following table shows the four codes that are available
within the one SIC Codes DataPlus data set, the number
of classifications and characters within those codes,
and the format of the codes within each:
|
SIC Classification
|
Number of Codes
|
Number of Characters
|
Code Format
|
|
UK 1980
|
672
|
5
|
00000
|
|
UK 1992
|
791
|
4-5
|
00.000 or 00.00
|
|
US 1972
|
964
|
4
|
0000
|
|
US 1980
|
1004
|
4
|
0000
|
|
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