SAN DIEGO, CA – February 1, 2011 – Trade Service Company, the leading provider of product and pricing information for the electrical market, and epaCUBE, an innovative provider of product data quality and gross profit optimization solutions, announced a joint venture to offer Margin Optimizer, a "cloud-based" margin optimization solution.

Trade Service will offer a "cloud-based" version of epaCUBE’s Gross Margin Modeling solution on a subscription basis as part of its eDataFlex® family of product and pricing services.  Trade Service’s Margin Optimizer, powered by epaCUBE, offers distributors the ability to forecast and clearly see the future impact of supplier cost changes from their eDataFlex price load on gross margin.

"Offering tools like Margin Optimizer is a natural extension of our product and price updating services and is yet another way we can focus on making distributors more efficient and more profitable," said Tony Dubreville, President and CEO at Trade Service.  Dubreville adds, "It is also reflective of our continuing commitment to provide high quality services and profit-enhancing productivity tools to our valued customers."
 
With Margin Optimizer, distributors are able to understand, in advance, the IMPACT their weekly eDataFlex load of price changes will have on FUTURE projected gross margin, and then take appropriate action to avoid experiencing the potentially damaging results.

"We are honored to be working with the market leader who for years has been committed to improving the operations of the distribution marketplace," stated George Dunham, CEO of epaCUBE, and "we look forward to working with and assisting Trade Service in their efforts to increase their customer’s profitability and decision-making ability."

About Trade Service
Trade Service Company is the leading provider of product and price information to the electrical, plumbing/PVF, HVACR, industrial MRO, and office products industries.  Since 1931, the company has been the leader in content acquisition, aggregation, management, publishing, and distribution, offering a variety of products, services, and systems to meet the content needs of distributors, contractors, and government agencies.  The range of solutions provided includes printed directories, electronic catalogs, pricing data for business system updating, and robust attributed content to fuel full-functioning Internet storefronts. 

About epaCUBE, Inc.
epaCUBE was founded on the premise that "real dollars" could be reclaimed in the supply chain by solving the problems and overcoming the challenges associated with optimizing "gross margin" over "continuously" cleansed and up-to-date product data.  The Product Data Management and Gross Profit Optimization tools give a company the powerful ability to manage every aspect of its product mix, specifically and accurately target its customers and their consumers, and negotiate with suppliers from a position of strength based upon complete knowledge of its products.  epaCUBE enables companies to easily manage product information across existing business processes and systems.  It is a powerful solution that improves data quality, dramatically increases productivity, and streamlines integration with internal systems and outside trading partners. High performance companies thrive from this type of product knowledge, and epaCUBE’s goal is to make this level of product information available to the distribution market in a packaged, affordable solution.