If you own a restaurant or retail store, you know that a great customer experience isn’t limited to the food on the plate or the clothes on the shelf. Atmosphere matters, and the right soundtrack can keep your customers coming back for more. But the daily realities of running a business can make it challenging to focus on choosing the right sound system for your space.

We believe business owners should be able to have it all: great sound, robust control, and a stress-free setup that doesn’t distract you from serving customers. That’s why we’re introducing Era 100 Pro, a speaker specifically designed for professional installation in commercial spaces. Era 100 Pro reimagines the iconic Sonos speaker with features such as Power over Ethernet (optimized for PoE+), a pro-grade mount, and the ability to create custom audio zones in your space.

Of course, you’ll also need to pre-set music schedules, volume levels, and playlists that feature only commercially licensed content during business hours. That’s where Sonos Pro comes in. A Sonos Pro subscription gives you more control of your sound system with remote monitoring and management, with the conveniences of ad-free, commercially licensed music that perfectly fits the mood.

Let’s break down the hardware and software, plus explore how they work together to create a unique combination of content, control, and pro-grade audio for your business.

The hardware: Era 100 Pro

Era 100 Pro brings the premium sound, looks, and experience you’ve come to expect from Sonos, with added features designed specifically with commercial spaces in mind.

Single-cable simplicity

Even if you’re obsessive about creating the perfect experience in your commercial space, you still have to deal with time and budget restraints. Getting a sound system installed quickly and efficiently lets you get back to what matters: running your business.

Era 100 Pro doesn’t only sound great; it’s also simple for your integrator to install. Era 100 Pro utilizes Power over Ethernet (PoE) which combines power and data over a single network cable. Since PoE is low voltage, it means you most likely won’t need to hire a certified electrician for installation, reducing the cost and time it takes to get up and running.

Because PoE is a wired-first connection, you don’t need to rely on WiFi to stream content. This enhances your network’s reliability and performance — a crucial consideration during restaurant rush hour or peak shopping times. Whereas pure wireless connectivity is a great standalone solution in the home, commercial spaces have unique needs that benefit from a wired-first networking approach. Additionally, many other commercial AV and IT products utilize PoE like wireless access points, security cameras, POS systems, and more. This means you can integrate a lot of the necessary technology for your business with PoE. If you have some hard to reach places, Era 100 Pro also provides a secondary wireless connection for additional flexibility.

Secure and flexible installation

Different commercial layouts demand different approaches to speaker installation, but Era 100 Pro can handle (and blend with) an impressive range of restaurant, retail, and health & wellness spaces.

The speaker’s sleek design fits nicely into a variety of spaces. Plus, you can mount it to virtually any surface with the Era 100 Pro Surface Mount (sold separately). The Surface Mount provides 360 degree rotation as well as 30 degrees of pan and tilt, ensuring you can place Era 100 Pro exactly where and how you want it. The mount’s base plate can accommodate hidden or exposed cabling, whether your walls are drywall, stone, or wood. Plus, Era 100 Pro has an optional eye bolt for a secondary attachment, should building codes require it.

Zones functionality for easier system control

For those looking to tailor the sound of specific rooms, Era 100 Pro allows you to create dedicated zones for different areas in your commercial space. This makes controlling multiple speakers in large spaces easier than ever before.

You can combine multiple speakers together in a zone and craft a custom sound experience that fits a specific purpose. The possibilities are endless, whether you’re curating a space with different “theme” areas or simply want to tweak the atmosphere across different parts of your sales floor.

The software: Sonos Pro

Setting up a music system in your retail store or restaurant is about more than choosing the right speakers and hardware. It’s also about meticulously crafting an atmosphere that keeps customers engaged and at ease. Hit the right note and you’ll not only increase sales in a particular time window, but also keep customers coming back for more.

Sonos Pro provides an easy-to-set-up dashboard that amplifies the impact of Era 100 Pro. From wherever you are, you can access the dashboard and remotely monitor and manage the content playing at each of your business locations.

A Sonos Pro subscription works alongside your Era 100 Pro to create the perfect vibe for your commercial space. Here’s how.

Management across locations from a single dashboard

Let’s not kid ourselves: You have enough to worry about already when it comes to running a business. You don’t need to add “DJ” to your list of job descriptions, and you do not want to hand over playlist selection to your employees. Provide your employees the time to assist customers and make sales by utilizing the Sonos Pro dashboard to remotely manage the sound in your business.

The Sonos Pro dashboard allows you to monitor each of your locations remotely. Even when you’re not physically on-site, the dashboard gives you complete control over the music’s vibe, from scheduling music to start at opening hours to setting volume limits for individual speaker zones.

Commercially licensed music to fit any vibe

If you plan to play music during business hours, you’ll need to be careful about more than just the mood. Commercially licensed music is legally required in business environments. Without the proper licensing, you may face legal consequences — a vibe killer if there ever was one.

Whichever level of Sonos Pro subscription you choose, you’ll gain access to a wide selection of commercially licensed music. The Essential subscription comes with ad-free music from independent artists, while the Premium subscription tacks on hundreds of stations filled with popular artists your customers will know (or be thrilled to discover).

A full-service Sonos solution for businesses of all sizes

Sonos is already known for bringing high-quality sound and refreshingly simple controls to homes everywhere. With Sonos Pro and Era 100 Pro, we’re expanding our footprint outside the home — taking everything people love about Sonos into restaurants, retail stores, and other commercial spaces.

It starts with Era 100 Pro, a speaker that combines the most important features business owners look for in a sound setup — namely, simple installation, all-in-one control, and pro-grade sound quality. When you add a Sonos Pro subscription, you add remote monitoring and management through a dashboard, along with countless hours of ad-free, commercially licensed audio to your Era 100 Pro setup.

Interested in adding Era 100 Pro and Sonos Pro to your commercial space? Find the nearest dealer to you using our dealer locator.

*Sonos Pro is only available in certain territories.