CNAE: what it is and how to use it in B2B prospecting
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 8:27 am
Gone are the days when CNAE was considered knowledge of interest solely and exclusively to the community of tax specialists and accountants.
For those who don't know yet, CNAE is a very powerful form of market segmentation and, therefore, a mandatory topic for managers and B2B sales professionals to seek mastery as well.
But what is CNAE?
CNAE is the National Classification of Economic Activities valid for all economic agents in Brazil. This includes companies, public and private organizations, rural establishments and even self-employed professionals .
Its monitoring, definition of usage rules france business email list standardization of classifications is carried out by CONCLA (National Classification Commission) maintained by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) .
To give you an idea, today the country has more than 50 million active and inactive companies, distributed across 2,380 sectors of the economy, 27 states and 5,570 cities.
CNAE: how it works in practice
Brazilian economic activities are organized by CNAE into 5 levels, from the most general to the most specific:
1st level: 21 Sections
2nd level: 87 Divisions
3rd level: 285 Groups
4th level: 673 Classes
5th level: 1301 Subclasses
For example, at the third level you already find high schools:
Level Code Description
Section P EDUCATION
Division 85 EDUCATION
Group 852 HIGH SCHOOL
But to locate more specific segments in Education, the fifth level allows the necessary detail:
Section P EDUCATION
Division 85 EDUCATION
Group 859 OTHER TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Class 8599-6 TEACHING ACTIVITIES NOT PREVIOUSLY SPECIFIED
Subclass 8599-6/04 PROFESSIONAL AND MANAGERIAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
Look how interesting this example of a specific activity in civil construction is:
Section F CONSTRUCTION
Division 43 SPECIALIZED SERVICES FOR CONSTRUCTION
Group 432 ELECTRICAL, HYDRAULIC AND OTHER INSTALLATIONS IN CONSTRUCTIONS
Class 4322-3 HYDRAULIC INSTALLATIONS, VENTILATION AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS
Subclass 4322-3/01 HYDRAULIC, SANITARY AND GAS INSTALLATIONS
And this other one for the retail segment:
Section G TRADE; REPAIR OF MOTOR VEHICLES AND MOTORCYCLES
Division 47 RETAIL TRADE
Group 475 RETAIL TRADE OF COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT; HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT AND ARTICLES
Class 4751-2 SPECIALIZED RETAIL TRADE OF COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
Subclass 4751-2/02 CARTRIDGE REFILLING FOR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
Can a company have more than one CNAE?
Yes, you can, remembering that only one will be considered as the main economic activity of the CNPJ sought and the others will be informed as secondary, up to a limit of 99 activities.
Another important point to highlight when we talk about mapping by sector is that there are no economic activities for certain keywords such as “automation”, “technical assistance”, “ecommerce” and “pet shop”.
Why use CNAE in B2B sales?
Because the CNAE defines all of Brazil's economic sectors into no less than 1,301 subclasses, divided into 21 sections, 87 divisions, 285 groups and 673 classes.
By learning how this classification works, the sales professional will be able to gather information such as:
Total number of companies in “Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles” – Section G = 5,845,128 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of “Retail Trade” companies – Division G-47 = 4,547,670 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of companies in “Retail Trade of IT and Communication Equipment; Household Equipment and Articles” – Group G-475 = 616,701 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of companies in “Specialized Retail Trade of Computer Equipment and Supplies” – Class G-4751-2 = 107,672 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of “Cartridge Refilling for Computer Equipment” companies – Subclass G-4751-2/02 = 2,701 | State with the most companies = SP
With this data in hand and a good B2B sales intelligence platform like Econodata, you can combine and cross-reference CNAE data with other segmentation criteria such as:
Revenue and number of employees;
Companies in growth or decline;
Tax regime and registration status;
Micro and mesoregions;
Neighborhood, Address and Zip Code;
Company opening date;
And much more!
In other words, it will create a powerful B2B prospecting process so that your sales team is focused and targeting the target audience that is appropriate for your product and/or service.
Bonus tip: free CNAE analysis and consultations
To help sales professionals gain more insights through CNAE analysis, Econodata created the free CNAE Consultation tool .
CNAE Query
With it, you can consult all the details of a CNAE:
if it is accepted in Simples Nacional,
State Registration is required and
what activities it comprises.
To further boost this market intelligence work , we also recommend using our free market calculator , where you will discover the potential size of your market.
For those who don't know yet, CNAE is a very powerful form of market segmentation and, therefore, a mandatory topic for managers and B2B sales professionals to seek mastery as well.
But what is CNAE?
CNAE is the National Classification of Economic Activities valid for all economic agents in Brazil. This includes companies, public and private organizations, rural establishments and even self-employed professionals .
Its monitoring, definition of usage rules france business email list standardization of classifications is carried out by CONCLA (National Classification Commission) maintained by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) .
To give you an idea, today the country has more than 50 million active and inactive companies, distributed across 2,380 sectors of the economy, 27 states and 5,570 cities.
CNAE: how it works in practice
Brazilian economic activities are organized by CNAE into 5 levels, from the most general to the most specific:
1st level: 21 Sections
2nd level: 87 Divisions
3rd level: 285 Groups
4th level: 673 Classes
5th level: 1301 Subclasses
For example, at the third level you already find high schools:
Level Code Description
Section P EDUCATION
Division 85 EDUCATION
Group 852 HIGH SCHOOL
But to locate more specific segments in Education, the fifth level allows the necessary detail:
Section P EDUCATION
Division 85 EDUCATION
Group 859 OTHER TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Class 8599-6 TEACHING ACTIVITIES NOT PREVIOUSLY SPECIFIED
Subclass 8599-6/04 PROFESSIONAL AND MANAGERIAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
Look how interesting this example of a specific activity in civil construction is:
Section F CONSTRUCTION
Division 43 SPECIALIZED SERVICES FOR CONSTRUCTION
Group 432 ELECTRICAL, HYDRAULIC AND OTHER INSTALLATIONS IN CONSTRUCTIONS
Class 4322-3 HYDRAULIC INSTALLATIONS, VENTILATION AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS
Subclass 4322-3/01 HYDRAULIC, SANITARY AND GAS INSTALLATIONS
And this other one for the retail segment:
Section G TRADE; REPAIR OF MOTOR VEHICLES AND MOTORCYCLES
Division 47 RETAIL TRADE
Group 475 RETAIL TRADE OF COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT; HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT AND ARTICLES
Class 4751-2 SPECIALIZED RETAIL TRADE OF COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
Subclass 4751-2/02 CARTRIDGE REFILLING FOR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
Can a company have more than one CNAE?
Yes, you can, remembering that only one will be considered as the main economic activity of the CNPJ sought and the others will be informed as secondary, up to a limit of 99 activities.
Another important point to highlight when we talk about mapping by sector is that there are no economic activities for certain keywords such as “automation”, “technical assistance”, “ecommerce” and “pet shop”.
Why use CNAE in B2B sales?
Because the CNAE defines all of Brazil's economic sectors into no less than 1,301 subclasses, divided into 21 sections, 87 divisions, 285 groups and 673 classes.
By learning how this classification works, the sales professional will be able to gather information such as:
Total number of companies in “Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles” – Section G = 5,845,128 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of “Retail Trade” companies – Division G-47 = 4,547,670 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of companies in “Retail Trade of IT and Communication Equipment; Household Equipment and Articles” – Group G-475 = 616,701 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of companies in “Specialized Retail Trade of Computer Equipment and Supplies” – Class G-4751-2 = 107,672 | State with the most companies = SP
Total number of “Cartridge Refilling for Computer Equipment” companies – Subclass G-4751-2/02 = 2,701 | State with the most companies = SP
With this data in hand and a good B2B sales intelligence platform like Econodata, you can combine and cross-reference CNAE data with other segmentation criteria such as:
Revenue and number of employees;
Companies in growth or decline;
Tax regime and registration status;
Micro and mesoregions;
Neighborhood, Address and Zip Code;
Company opening date;
And much more!
In other words, it will create a powerful B2B prospecting process so that your sales team is focused and targeting the target audience that is appropriate for your product and/or service.
Bonus tip: free CNAE analysis and consultations
To help sales professionals gain more insights through CNAE analysis, Econodata created the free CNAE Consultation tool .
CNAE Query
With it, you can consult all the details of a CNAE:
if it is accepted in Simples Nacional,
State Registration is required and
what activities it comprises.
To further boost this market intelligence work , we also recommend using our free market calculator , where you will discover the potential size of your market.