corporate identity and trading names

laurenjs88

Hiya,

It dawned on me last night that my business will go into lots of different directions and the name that I picked is only good for one industry.

So i've picked a corporate name on the basis that this becomes almost the parent company of any other "names" I use for particular industries.

Is that the right thing to do?

eg:

laurenmse is the corporate name
Babylol is the "trading name" aimed at the baby/child industry
cleanielol is the "trading name" aimed at the health care industry?


These are all made up of course.

also in that case would i need seperate business accounts for each trading name, or do i have one under the corporate name?

Thanks!

morgani

If you have one company with various trading names then you just need to make the bank aware of the various trading names you will then be able to accept cheques etc in those names.

I have a legal name and trading name and it isn't an issue.

laurenjs88

So in that case i would open a business account under the laurenmse name and inform the bank so i can accept payments from retailers under the other names.

Thats good, i will have to go in on Monday and change the account stuff.

paulwf

Could you change your current name to be slightly more generic so it can encompass more than one industry? Off the top of my head a good example would be Lakeland Plastics that changed to Lakeland as they expanded way beyond the storage container market.

Having more than one trading name could complicate things, would you need different letterheads, phones lines, email addresses etc? Wherever possible keep it simple unless there really is a compelling reason to have several different identities.

If you only thought of this on Friday night don't do anything on Monday as branding is one of the most important aspects of the business, take your time and get it right

laurenjs88

the first product im launching is purley baby related and as such its got a really baby orintated name. Ive had the name for years, had the name in the press etc.. So i cant really change that, but after some research the product adjusted slightly could also have a market in the healthcare industry, so the baby name would not be appropriate.

Savvy_Sue

paulwf wrote: »

Could you change your current name to be slightly more generic so it can encompass more than one industry? Off the top of my head a good example would be Lakeland Plastics that changed to Lakeland as they expanded way beyond the storage container market.

never mind storage containers, didn't they start off selling plastic sheeting in industrial quantities for agricultural use? OK, maybe not quite, but almost!

GilbertGradgrind

The relevant law is the Business Names Act 1985. You can have a company name (WeSaySoCo) and a number of trading names for branding purposes. However, on certain documents (notably Business letters, purchase orders, invoices, receipts and written demands for payment of business debts) the owner's particulars must be shown.

Importantly: when asked for the owners name and address, it is the Business Name that is required not the trading name. The practice of stating both improves clarity.

The relevant legislation for online is the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002. This essentially requires that who is running the web site – the name of the website 'service provider'; the geographic or postal address (not a box number) and email addresses of the service provider; and, other details, such as telephone and fax number - are all available.

If you were to have multiple lines of products, it is entirely reasonable to have WeSaySoCo as a parent, holding, company with one company held for each product line. That would become hugely complex fairly quickly. It would place a fairly onerous obligation of reporting onto you. The alternative of multiple trading name where you make it clear "ChildrenProducts (a trading name of WeSaySoCo)" is acceptable when it is transparent.

However, it is safer to let your Accountant know before trading with the trading name and possibly to check with Companies House (using the WebCheck Facility) to see if anybody else uses that name. There is generally no problem if you are being open, transparent and informative about your trading names.

patman99

If the product is a single item rather than an entire product range, could you not use the business name as the product name instead, so it would b e something like this 'Babylol' by 'Laurenmse LTD' and the other product would then be 'Medilol' by 'Laurenmse LTD'?.

If successful, then you could consider setting-up a child company (i.e. 'LaurenBaby') to run the expanding baby product line.