Mergent Online: How to use it

The Advanced Search allows you to create a list of companies by industry, location, size (number of employees) and/or annual sales.

Notice there are three choices for industry codes: SIC codes, NAICS codes, and HIC codes. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system was developed in the 1930's to classify U.S. and Canadian business establishments. In 1997 the NAICS system was created to update SIC and accommodate the statistical agencies of Canada and Mexico after the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed.  HIC refers to the Hoovers Industry Classification. HIC codes are helpful when broad categories of industry sectors are needed.

The following example shows a search for restaurants and bars located in the city of Deland. The NAICS option was selected and the arrow to the left of (72) Accommodation and Food Services was selected. The arrow opens the hierarchy tree for NAICS code 72. Clicking on the arrow to the left of (722) Food Services and Drinking Places opens the 722 hierarchy.  After you have checked the NAICS codes to include, click on the Add to Criteria button as shown.

There are many location options available to filter the list of companies found in the NAICS (722) Food Services and Drinking Places classification.  In the example here the City location option was selected and Deland was entered in the dialog box then added to the criteria.

Once you have added the industry and location criteria to your search, scroll down to the bottom of the screen to see the number of companies found that match your criteria. Click on the Search button to view a list of companies. The list can be downloaded with the company details (address, website, phone number, sales, number of employees...) into an Excel spreadsheet.