Wholesale and retail companies in São Paulo, Brazil

The Receita Federal (CNPJ registry) lists 761,227 wholesale and retail companies (distributors, importers, retailers and dealerships) in São Paulo, of which 761,227 are active. With 27.8% of Brazil's section G records, São Paulo is the largest of the country's 27 states for this sector (extraction 2026-10-10). Its weight in the local economy is close to the national mix: 24.2% of São Paulo's records against 25.2% nationally (location quotient 0.96).

The city of Sao Paulo concentrates 38.1% of the active companies, followed by Campinas (20,789) and Guarulhos (19,340); the three together hold 43.4%. The median active company is 6.0 years old; 13% were registered in the last year and 31% in the last three. In the 12 months to September 2026, 88,324 new wholesale and retail businesses were registered in São Paulo, +30.9% on the previous 12 months (national section G: +16.8%). By ISIC division, 47 (retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles) is 68.6% of the records and 46 (wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles) 19.0%. Size is known for 87% of the active companies; 74% of those are micro.

The largest section everywhere. Division 46 (wholesale) is the B2B half: distributors and importers that payments, trade-finance, logistics and B2B-marketplace vendors target. Division 47 (retail) is the merchant universe for payments, POS and e-commerce enablement. 45 holds dealerships and repair shops. Filter by division first; the section total is too broad for any single campaign.