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Many free directories on the Internet are really only useful if you are
looking for individual or a small number of companies. If you require
a database that can provide you with data in a format that is suitable
for mailing list applications (labels, mail merge etc.) you will usually
have to pay for the service. Links to some of these are in the Direct
Marketing section.
Key starting points
FITA Global Trade Portal www.fita.org
Select Really Useful Links in the left hand menu, and then on
Business Directories and Trade Information. Directories are organised by country/region and industry.
Telephone Directories on the
Web www.infobel.com/en/world/index.aspx
Select your country from the regions listed about half way down the main page. Both business and residential directories are listed together with brief descriptions and language. A star rating is given to each one (note that the Infobel directory is always at the top with 4 stars!).
International resources
Bureau van Dijk www.bvdinfo.com
There is free Mint company search on the right hand side of the home page giving basic information on all companies covered
by the BvD collection of priced services. The information provided free of charge includes company name, location, size, sector, number of shareholders, number of subsidiaries and web site.
Expo21XX www.expo21xx.com
A directory that mimics a trade exhibition in its design. There are "fairs"
for industry sectors: textiles, automation, fluid power, motors and motion,
maritime, yachting and water sports, finance and insurance, logistics
and transportation, and office supplies. Each "fair" is subdivided
into halls, and each company in the hall has a "stand" with
a brief description and a flag showing the country in which it is based.
The amount of additional information on the companies varies depending
on their subscription level. There are currently over 1,300,000 "exhibitors".
Faust Information
- National & International Directories and Mailing Lists www.faust-information.com
Distributor of international address data CD ROMs, phonebooks and Yellow
Pages. Products include residential listings, business (yellow) pages,
mailing lists, listings by country and importers. Importers products include
the well known International Importers Directory, and industry listings
ranging from the agricultural sector to woodworking equipment. Prices
vary depending on the level of detail and type of directory. Priced
service.
Kompass www.kompass.com
Directory covering covering 3 million companies in over 60 countries. You can
search free of charge but only some of the information is free.
Process Industries
Supplier Directory www.processregister.com
This is a supplier directory for process industries and includes news,
links, forums and an event calendar. You can browse and search for suppliers
of 8000 products by category, product or company name. Information on
each company includes a "profile", full address, contact name, telephone
and fax numbers and a list of products that they produce or supply.
solusource www.solusource.com
A directory of manufacturers and distributors from 28 countries,
classified by 11,000 products and services categories. Search by product/service,
company name or browse the categories. Free of charge.
Zibb.com - Strictly Business www.zibb.com
Zibb.com unifies over 900 of Reed Business titles into a single portal. Search by keyword or browse through the categories. The results can be refined by using the options on the left hand side of your results page.
By country
Europe
Europages www.europages.com
Details of 2.3 million companies from 35 countries. Search by company name, product or business sector. Your results can be further refined by country, company type (for example manufacturer, wholesaler) and number of employees.
Wer liefert was? www.wlw.de
B2B directory of firms and their products in Belgium, Germany,
Croatia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic,
Slovenia and Slovakia. You can search by product,
service or company name and display company name, web site, email address, postal address, contact name and telephone number.
All sections are searchable
in German or English and there are additional languages for some of the other countries (see the chart at
http://www.wlw.com/com/index_wlw_en.html)
UK
Applegate UK and Ireland
Directories www.applegate.co.uk
Applegate offers a collection of B2B directories for business services, chemical, oil and gas, construction. electronics, engineering,
food and agribusiness, IT for industry, packaging and transport, plastics and rubber, recruitment services and textiles and clothing. The site can be searched or browsed in several different ways and the information available for each company varies but can include company name, address, telephone
and fax numbers, web address, email address, contact names e.g. marketing,
sales and managing directors, details of products and services, year established, turnover, and number of employees. The Top People for each directory are selected by the title
of their position and linked to the companies that currently employ them.
Companies House
www.companies-house.gov.uk
The official UK body to which UK companies have to send their accounts.
This site gives free access to the Companies Name and Address Index under the Webcheck link. Documents such as annual accounts are priced.
Crawfords Directory of City
Connections www.crawfordsonline.co.uk
Crawford's is a database concentrating on the relationships between Major UK Companies and their Professional Advisers. It covers companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange, listed Investment and Venture Capital Trusts or listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The free Quick Search options are limited to searching by Company Name and/or type of Professional Adviser and to viewing company name, telephone and web information.
The complete database is available by either purchasing the annual directory Waterlow's Stock Exchange Yearbook 2010 incorporating Crawford's Directory of City Connections or by subscribing as a Member to the web site.
Digital Library of Historical
Directories www.historicaldirectories.org
Historical Directories is produced and owned by the University of Leicester.
It is a digital library of local and trade directories for England and
Wales from 1750 to 1919, and includes reproductions of comparatively rare
books, and sources research into local and genealogical history. The project
aims to provide at least one directory for each geographical area for
the 1850s, 1890s and the 1910s. Pre-1850s, there is a small selection
of directories published between 1750 up to 1849. Since the project is
based at the University of Leicester, special in-depth coverage is given
to Leicestershire. There is also substantial coverage of London and Wales.
Once you have a directory "open" you can search for keywords within that.
You can then view the pages that contain your search terms, which are
highlighted, and print off interesting pages.
Kellysearch www.kellysearch.co.uk
B2B directory of UK companies from Reed Business Information.
Scottish Law Online
www.scottishlaw.org.uk
A listing of legal sites and sources of information in the Scotland,
the UK and world-wide. Includes a link to a Scottish Law Firm Directory.
Trade Association Forum (TAF)
www.taforum.org
Includes a searchable directory of UK trade associations. Information
on each association includes address, telephone and fax numbers, main
contact, and a link to the association's Web site.
West Midlands Collaborative Commerce Marketplace www.wmccm.co.uk/WMCCM/DesktopDefault.aspx
A free West Midlands on-line business directory and networking resource for West Midlands SMEs. Information available includes details of regional business, events and news. The local company directory is searchable by product, service, type of company and location. Back to the list of countries
Austria
Compnet.at www.compnet.at
Directory of 220,000 Austrian companies. Search, in German, by product
and name (free). The free option displays company name and town and a
link to the Web page, e-mail address, address, telephone and fax numbers,
products. The priced service gives access to further information and financials.
Branchenbuch | Yalwa Branchenverzeichnis Österreich www.yalwa.at
The Yalwa business directory is an extensive database of Austrian companies. The database is free of charge and searchable by company name, product, location, keyword or type of company/business service
Back to the list of countries
Denmark
Kraks Forlag AS www.krak.dk
Search options include company name, product, trademark and location. Information on the companies includes address, telephone
and fax numbers, web site, contact email address, number of employees, year established, key personnel,
export ratio, bankers, products and trademarks. In Danish.
Finland
National Board of Patents and Registration
of Finland www.prh.fi
Official company register for Finnish companies. As well as information
on registering a company, there is a Trade Register of Finnish
companies that can be searched via the BIS Search.
BIS includes organisations on the Trade Register, Register of Foundations, VAT register, Prepayment Register, Employer Register or the Client Register of the Tax Administration. Free of charge and available in Finnish, English
and Swedish.
France
Infogreffe - Trade and Companies Register - Commercial Court Registry www.infogreffe.fr/infogreffe/index.jsp
Official register of French companies. Basic company and contact information free of charge. Priced service for detailed information and accounts.
Germany
Business Deutschland
www.businessdeutschland.de
Extensive database of German companies searchable by product, company
name, Bundesland, zip code, area code and trade group. Contact details
include company name, address, telephone, fax number, email address and
web URL. Available in German and English.
Greece
Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry
www.acci.gr
The site includes a searchable database of members. The basic search consists of company name and/or activity code. The advanced search includes options for company name, legal status, location, STKOD (field of activity), products, export countries, company nationality.
Back to the list of countries
Iceland
Iceland Export Directory.
The Official Guide to Quality Products and Services in Iceland. www.icelandexport.is/english/
Contact details of internationally trading Icelandic companies. Search
by keyword or by browsing the industry categories. Company information varies but can include name, description, year of foundation, number of employees, description of the business, alternative names, address, telephone and fax
numbers, e-mail address, contact names, trademarks export categories.
Latvia
Lursoft www.lursoft.lv
Provides information about all enterprises, public organizations and
foreign company agencies registered within the territory of Latvia including
their managers, shareholders fixed capital and annual accounts. The information
is based on original documents of the Register of Enterprises (RE). In
Latvian and English. Basic company information free of charge. Priced
service for more detailed information including accounts.
Netherlands
Kamer van Koophandel : Trade Register
www.kvk.nl
In the Netherlands registration in the trade register is compulsory for
almost every company. Searching the trade register is free, but there
is a charge for the business extracts, accounts and other information
products. In Dutch and English.
Dutch yellow pages
www.markt.nl/dyp/index-en.html
Directory of web sites, available in Dutch or English. Commercial organisations
arranged by category or can be keyword searched.
Back to the list of countries
Norway
Brønnøysund Register Centre www.brreg.no
The Brønnøysund Register Centre is a government body under the Norwegian
Ministry of Trade and Industry, and consists of several different national
EDP registers. These registers contain information and key data on: liabilities
and titles in mortgaged movable property; more than 280,000 business enterprises;
more than 1,300,000 annual accounts and auditor's reports of limited companies;
bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations; approximately 200,000 marriage
settlements. The English pages have only basic information so for the full range of services you need to use the Norwegian pages. To search the databases you need to go to http://w2.brreg.no/enhet/sok/. Free information, which is in Norwegian, includes registered number, name, address, telephone, fax, email address, legal form, activity and directors.
Poland
TeleAdreson Polish company directory
www.teleadreson.com.pl
Contact details for approximately one million Polish companies. Searchable
by various criteria including keyword, NACE, SIC code, legal status and ownership. Information available on each company includes name, address, contact names, email addresses, phone and fax numbers, number of employees, turnover, year of foundation, industry codes and description of activity.
Portugal
Business in Portugal
www.portugaloffer.com
This site claims to be "the most exclusive business club in Portugal..." and the
companies "have been subjected to very careful
scrutiny". You can browse the sectors or search
on any combination of company name, keywords, region, business area, number
of employees and turnover. Available in English.
GuiaNet: Portuguese Business On the
Internet www.guianet.pt
Browse by sector, or keyword search by company name or sector. Available
in Portuguese, Spanish and English.
Back to the list of countries
Slovenia
Chamber of Commerce
and Industry of Slovenia www.gzs.si
There is a searchable database of members at
http://www.gzs.si/register_eng/ You can search the database
by name, NACE code or keyword, region and size. The amount of detail for
each entry varies but the standard format usually includes name, address,
telephone number, activity, directors, number of employees and sales.
Sloexport Slovenia export business directory www.sloexport.si
The SLO-EXPORT Directory is a database of major Slovenian companies including major service companies, trade,
banks, insurance, transport and communication, engineering and consulting,
and tourism. The data on each company includes the usual contact details,
e-mail and web address if available, directors, and type of company. Additional
notes, information on products exported and imported are also given.
PIRS www.slo-knjiga.si/
Claims to be the biggest and most complete Business Directory of Republic
of Slovenia covering businesses, sole proprietors, institutions and other
business establishments.
Back to the list of countries
Spain
Central Mercantile Registry. Legal Information
of companies, statistics and company names www.rmc.es
Subscription required. In English, French, German and Spanish.
Switzerland
Central Business Names Index on
the Internet www.zefix.admin.ch
Based on the Central Register administered by the Federal Commercial Registry
Office. Contains approximately 320,000 active and cancelled Swiss business
names and names of associations and foundations. There are also about
40,000 branch offices of inland and foreign companies. Information available
includes current registered business name, former names, legal form, legal
domicile (political municipality).
OSEC Swiss Export Directory www.osec.ch
Extensive directory of Swiss companies. Search by product or service,
company name, trademark. Available in English, German, French and Spanish Swiss Firms www.swissfirms.ch
Database from the the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry covering
9000 companies. Search by company name and state. The advanced search
includes search options for industry sector and activities.
Ukraine
Business Ukraine biznes-ukraina.ua
Business Ukraine has a useful collection of directories of companies, products and services in Ukraine as well as links to postal codes and transport timetables. There is also a list of Directories of the world on-line (http://biznes-ukraina.ua/extra.phtml?ttt=1&l=en) that is mostly yellow pages for countries around the world. The market reviews look interesting but the articles are subscription only. There are Russian, Ukrainian and English language options for many of the sections but you may have to resort to Google's translation service for some areas of the site.
Back to the list of countries
Oceania
Australia
Australian Business Register
www.abr.gov.au
The Australian Business Register is a publicly available, online database
that contains some of the information that is provided by businesses when
they register for an Australian Business Number (ABN). The information
that is publicly available includes Australian Business Number (ABN),
ABN Status and date of effect, legal name, trading name(s), entity type,
State or Territory and postcode of the main business location, associated
Australian Company Number (ACN) or Australian Registered Body Number (ARBN)
or Australian Registered Scheme Number (if applicable), goods and services
tax (GST) and deductible gift recipient (DGR) details and dates of effect.
ASIC National Names
Index www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has a company
search facility that offers basic information on a company or business
name. The free information that is available is the same as that in the
Australian Business Register but additional data including financials,
if available, can be purchased through commercial brokers that are linked
from the ASIC site.
The Americas
US
Knowx www.knowx.com
Only available to US users. Services include a Business Yellow Pages covering 20 million US companies,
a name availability database, and an owners and officers database. There
is also an option that enables you to search the company databases of
most states of the US. These include Limited Liability Companies (LLC).
Follow the link "Corporate Records", which is under "Ultimate Business
Finder". You can then search on company name and a state or all states.
It lists, free of charge, the companies it has found and the state in
which they are incorporated or registered. Further information is available
for a fee. Payment is by credit card.
ThomasNet www.thomasnet.com
Database of over 650,000 industrial suppliers that can be searched by
product, company name or brand name. If you register (free of charge)
you can save searches, company details, subscribe to newsletters and alerts,
and customize news feeds. You can receive newsletters by email or select
a category from the Industrial News Room and receive news as an RSS feed
or add it to My Yahoo.
Back to the list of countries
Telephone Directories
Key Starting Points
Telephone Directories on the
Web www.infobel.com/teldir/
UK
BT UK Phone Directory www.bt.com
(Follow the link Find a number). BT's directory or residential
and business numbers. To search, you have to enter part of a name and
an "area" (town or county). Initials and street name are optional. You
cannot enter a telephone number and retrieve a name and address. If you
are looking for businesses, unlike Electronic Yellow Pages (see below)
you cannot search by business type. The service does not include Directory
Enquiry only or ex-directory numbers.
Scoot www.scoot.co.uk
Scoot lets you search by business type and location or by company name
and location.
UK Electronic Yellow Pages www.yell.com
BT's UK Yellow Pages. Search by company name and location, or by business
type and location. For business type there is an A-Z of categories. Details
displayed are name, address, postal code and telephone number. Results
are displayed 10 at a time in random order.
Thomsonlocal www.thomsonlocal.com
Access to over 2 million businesses that appear in the UK local Thomson
directories. You can search by company name, type of business or
location.
192.com www.192.com
This site offers access to the UK Electoral Roll, Directory Enquiries,
Business Directory, UK street maps and aerial photographs. Some information us
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US
Switchboard: The Internet Directory
- Yellow Pages - White Pages - Phonebook www.switchboard.com
This is the site to use if you do not know the person's or company's location.
Most other US telephone directories require a city or state as well as
the name.
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Domain Name Registries
All Whois allwhois.com
World-wide coverage.
Nominet www.nic.uk
Registry for UK Internet domain names
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