Jasco Products: Building brand power and profitability in commoditized categories

Opening & Intro

Kailin Noivo: Welcome to another episode of the Ecommerce Toolbox Expert's Perspective.

Kailin Noivo: Joining us today, we have Jeff Cato, who's the VP of Marketing and Ecommerce at Jasco Products.

Kailin Noivo: So welcome to the show, Jeff.

Jeff Cato: Appreciate it, Kailin. How are you, bud?

Kailin Noivo: Good, good. No complaints. Life's good.

Career Journey

Kailin Noivo: Jeff, why don't you open up by telling us a bit about yourself, your career journey, how you ended up in your role?

Jeff Cato: Yeah, it's been a fun journey, personally. I'm super happy with it. I started out not in the ecommerce world. Just like anybody coming out of college, you sorta start one way and you sorta evolve over time.

Jeff Cato: I actually started out with Frito-Lay in a sales role. It was a great experience and I really learned a lot. From there, I went into the telecommunications industry for about twelve years and did a lot of sales and marketing.

Jeff Cato: Then I stayed in the telecom/IT managed services world with another company—mostly mid-size companies where you do a lot of sales and marketing combined. Eventually I got over to Jasco. It's only my fourth company.

Jeff Cato: I've been with Jasco a little over eight years. Never been in the consumer electronics space before, but I was brought in to head up ecommerce and digital marketing. Culturally, Jasco looks for the right people—even if you don’t have every piece of exact experience—so they knew me, felt I was a good culture fit, and that I’d lead the team and figure things out.

Brand in Commoditized Categories

Kailin Noivo: In a category where products are often viewed as commodities, how are you making a case for brand and long-term growth?

Jeff Cato: We’re in a lot of commodities: lighting (indoor/outdoor), power (extension cords, wall taps, cables), remotes, antennas, AV accessories, smart lighting, walls and switches. We have about 10 brands and are a licensee for GE, Philips, and Energizer—manufacture, distribute, sell, pay a royalty.

Jeff Cato: The national brands give us credibility and differentiation, especially in upper tiers at retail and online. But many brick-and-mortar retailers are going private label, so differentiation matters. Where we don’t have licensed brands, we build private label and focus on product differentiation.

Jeff Cato: The model has shifted: today brands often build online first then go into brick & mortar. Historically, we were the opposite. We’re redefining ourselves—balancing short-term sales to keep the machine rolling with building brands, which takes time.

Channels & Conflict Avoidance

Kailin Noivo: You sell through major retailers and are growing D2C. How do you avoid channel conflict and create force multipliers?

Jeff Cato: Example: our lighting brand Enbrighten. In club channels like Costco and Sam’s, pricing is aggressive with lower margins—usually not a D2C path. We differentiate SKUs/specs by channel: simpler RF remote and white lighting for club; RGBW and app-controlled for D2C/Amazon/other retailers.

Jeff Cato: Different UPCs and spec sets prevent cross-channel price matching chaos and let us meet margin and price thresholds by audience and channel.

Marketplaces & Amazon

Kailin Noivo: Marketplaces can squeeze margins and copy SKUs. How do you decide what goes D2C vs Amazon?

Jeff Cato: We’re a 1P provider and view Amazon as part of our digital-first strategy. If we believe in a product, we launch it on Amazon and on our site. You don’t always have to be the low-price option—people will pay a premium if you communicate value, though it’s pay-to-play and margins are always under pressure.

Jeff Cato: Tariffs complicate pricing and competitiveness. In 2017 we were practically 100% China—25% tariffs were a massive impact. We’ve since diversified and are pretty much out of China, but other countries still have tariffs. Passing along increases is a delicate balance, especially with many sub-$25 products where $1–$2 swings matter.

Tariffs, Diversification & Reshoring

Kailin Noivo: Do tariffs change your manufacturing strategy—any chance of reshoring?

Jeff Cato: From ’17 to now we changed countries, which helps with how things are playing out. For our price points and product types, US manufacturing doesn’t make sense in the near term—consumer electronics require long lead and capability ramps. Complete US reshoring isn’t realistic for us right now.

Consumer Insights & Tools

Kailin Noivo: How do you gather and use insights across reviews and platforms?

Jeff Cato: Reviews are critical. We use CommerceIQ—great automation for product/competitor insights and “why” analysis (buy box, pricing, etc.). It informs both product and content: where to change the product vs clarify content.

Jeff Cato: We also use reviews in marketing (social, conferences) when our ratings materially outperform competitors. CommerceIQ helps us size markets down to SKU level, plan buys, model seasonalities, and estimate share goals before launch. We expect these tools to get more omnichannel (Walmart, Home Depot) so we can view analytics holistically, not siloed by channel.

ROI, SKU Proliferation & Margin Discipline

Kailin Noivo: How do you think about ROI by channel and SKU strategy?

Jeff Cato: During COVID we rolled out too many SKUs and doubled up buys—growth was strong, but we weren’t as tuned to ROI. Now we’re more scientific: each item has weekly volume targets and margin thresholds (our GPAs). We model whether margin allows promos or everyday price points without dropping below thresholds.

Jeff Cato: We also consider distribution turn goals for D2C and DC constraints. It forces rigor before we come to market—minimum thresholds, margin headroom for promos, and clear volume expectations.

Advertising & ROAS Realities

Kailin Noivo: What does good ROAS look like for you?

Jeff Cato: It’s margin-dependent. Lower price points are tough; you can go upside down quickly. In smart lighting (higher price points, better margins), we’re comfortable with ~5–8 ROAS. For lower-price items (e.g., a $13.99 surge protector), getting above 3–4 ROAS is hard and leaves little profit. That guides where we invest and why we’re moving the mix toward higher AOV categories.

Outro

Kailin Noivo: Awesome. Jeff, this has been amazing—really appreciate you taking the time.

Jeff Cato: Yeah, you bet.

Outro: The Ecommerce Toolbox Expert Perspectives is brought to you by Noibu. To find out more and subscribe, visit noibu.com and find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen.