Non Specialised Wholesale Trade

Details for Non Specialised Wholesale Trade

Companies selecting 46900 are generally saying that their commercial activity falls within non-specialised wholesale trade. In plain English, it is likely to include retailers, ecommerce traders, catalogue sellers, online shops, marketplace merchants and consumer goods businesses, with day-to-day activity often involving product sourcing, merchandising, customer orders, fulfilment, returns and direct-to-consumer trading. As of June 2026, 46900 ranks 32nd out of 731 five-digit SIC codes, with 53,114 UK companies registered under it, making it among the highest-volume classifications on the UK register.

The four-code limit at Companies House is useful here, as many businesses use one code for their main trade and additional SIC codes for secondary services, side operations or closely related commercial functions. The short official label is deliberately compact, so the real-world businesses behind it may describe themselves using broader phrases such as non-specialised wholesale trade services, specialist non-specialised wholesale trade providers, operators in related supply chains, or companies supporting customers who need this form of commercial activity. The classification is especially valuable when comparing suppliers, prospecting for customers, segmenting a database, reviewing competition or checking how a company presents its principal line of business on the public record.

For search and data work, the wording should be understood broadly: companies may use different everyday terms for the same activity, including trade names, sector jargon, abbreviated service descriptions and customer-facing language. The code therefore works best as a structured indicator of economic activity rather than a complete profile of the company, because many organisations evolve, add services or reorganise after incorporation. Taken together with location, age, filing history and other SIC selections, this code can help build a more rounded view of the market in which the company appears to operate.

In practical terms, the code helps separate this kind of work from neighbouring sectors that may look similar in search results but involve different trading models, assets, customers or regulatory expectations. Although the wording of modern SIC codes is contemporary, the UK has used Standard Industrial Classification since the 1940s; the Companies House register moved from 4-digit SIC 2003 to the present 5-digit SIC 2007 framework during 2008–2009, aligned to European NACE Rev. 2.

Our Recently Formed marketing database is updated daily on the previous days company activity at Companies House to allow you to find new companies quickly and easily (whereas this categorised page of data counts is updated monthly). We provide the widest choice of filters available for Recently Formed Companies. And its not just Newly Formed companies - We have over 4 million companies - from new starters to companies over 100 years old, able to be filtered geographically or by category, but if you are looking to get in touch with companies within this category, the below table shows how many companies were added to the category, month by month over the last couple of years.