For many years, AV was neatly divided into ‘residential’ and ‘commercial’, but today, the boundaries are more fluid, with terms like ‘resimercial’ (broadly, when residential kit is used in commercial settings) and ‘prosumer’ (pro AV kit utilised for residential settings) defining a shift in the way AV tech is deployed. But ask five industry professionals what ‘resimercial’ – the most often used of the two terms – actually means, and you’re likely to get five more nuanced, different answers.
Perhaps the clearest definition comes from Snap One. Scott Normand, senior sales engineer director, describes resimercial as when CEDIA dealers begin taking on commercial projects, with or without residential AV kit. “These settings – bars, restaurants, retail – share many similarities with resi projects: multiple TVs, distributed audio, outdoor sound systems. Because the work closely mirrors what they’re already doing in homes, it’s easier to embrace the resimercial market,” he says.
Crestron also operates across both markets, but has a different view. Michael Short, VP of marketing operations and residential, resists treating resimercial as a standalone category. “I really don’t think it’s a distinct segment. Crestron has residential and commercial dealers who cross over depending on the style of their business. Our products are built to scale, with many crossover applications. [As our marketing team says]: We’re in the White House, we’re in your home, and everything in between.”
Further contrasting views on resimercial come from the industry’s two major trade bodies. CEDIA offers the broadest historical perspective, seeing crossover work as a long-standing part of the integrator landscape. “I believe the resimercial trend is foundational to many of our members’ businesses,” asserts Mitch Klein, vice president of business strategy. “For more than three decades, I’ve seen integrators move fluidly between residential and commercial projects, installing systems in homes one week and in restaurants or conference rooms the next. This crossover isn’t new, but manufacturers are now responding with products designed to meet both markets’ needs.”
AVIXA ANALYSIS
AVIXA, by contrast, offers a more analytical view from the perspective of the pro AV industry. Sean Wargo, the now former VP of market insight, broke the resimercial concept into two distinct, but often conflated, trends, when he spoke to us before leaving the organisation. “The first is the usage of residential grade products within commercial projects. The second is the crossover of residential integrators into the commercial space. While linked to some degree, since a residential specialist might have better access to the commercial market if the product sets are similar, the two are also very separate,” he argued.
This analytical separation is important, according to Wargo, because using residential products commercially is a procurement decision, whereas integrators crossing over represents a fundamental business model shift. Treating them as identical obscures important strategic considerations.
Despite varying views about the resimercial concept, all interviewees agree that technology convergence works bidirectionally. The flow isn’t simply residential products moving into commercial settings, but also pro AV technology migrating into homes – the lesser used ‘prosumer’ term.
LONG-RANGE PERSPECTIVE
Once again Klein provides a long-range perspective. “When I began in the industry, technologies like matrix switchers or advanced control systems were reserved for commercial use,” he recalls. “Now, many of these have made their way into homes, and the flow of innovation goes both ways. I’ve worked with manufacturers who now offer products like 70 Volt audio systems and Dante for home installs, although they were once exclusive to commercial installations.”
Crestron’s DM NAX Audio-over-IP, originally designed for residential use, is now widely adopted in bars, restaurants, and hospitality venues. Short notes: “We’re definitely seeing an uptick in demand in those boutique hospitality spaces, restaurants, and retail, but they’ve always been a core element of Crestron’s business. Ultimately, many of our products are built for both worlds. Our DM NVX is a traditionally commercial solution that performs incredibly well in residential applications.”
For manufacturers, the rise of the resimercial market demands a thoughtful reassessment of product strategies, according to CEDIA’s Klein. “Manufacturers have no choice but to consider how they present their products. As application-specific solutions become more common, they must ensure their offerings match integrators’ specifications and the unique design needs of hybrid spaces.”
At Snap One, Normand says the company has been developing products with both residential and commercial installers in mind for some time, especially when it comes to hybrid systems and cross-over applications. “Our focus is on creating market-agnostic product lines that deliver equally well in residential and commercial environments, built on performance, functionality, and quality.”
Normand is careful to note, however, that Snap One doesn’t simply rebrand residential products for commercial use. Instead, its strategy is to expand functionality by adding feature sets that broaden a product’s application. One example is WattBox – while already used in commercial environments, it was enhanced with a “bulk configuration” feature that allows integrators to manage settings across up to 1,000 units at once, effectively transforming it into a scalable commercial solution.
Once again, Crestron has a slightly different take. According to Short, its product portfolio has “developed organically” rather than through sector-specific design: “Apart from a few targeted products – like those built for large meeting rooms, or the Cevo Mini Remote designed for a living room or a superyacht – most of our portfolio has hybrid applications. We offer solutions that can be used anywhere from boardrooms to boutique hotels, wellness centres to meeting rooms.”
The resimercial market opportunity clearly exists, but quantifying it is much harder and perspectives diverge significantly. For CEDIA members, the opportunity is substantial and growing. “Hospitality stands out,” Klein says. “Places such as restaurants, bars, outdoor venues are perfect fits for resimercial solutions. Larger commercial AV firms may overlook these projects, but residential integrators are perfectly positioned to tackle them.”
Corporate environments are another avenue, he continues. Meanwhile, meeting rooms and medical or dental offices also benefit from residential-grade AV, thanks to trusted relationships that often start with home installations.
Wellness spaces have emerged as a key source of opportunities, driven by increasing demand for comfort, personalisation, and integrated environmental control. “Sleeping spaces with personal control of AV systems, lights, shading, and climate are common to both the resi and hospitality verticals,” Short explains. “And spas, gyms and luxury health facilities represent another growth sector.”
AESTHETIC ADVANTAGES
Residential integrators may have an advantage in boutique commercial spaces thanks to their refined aesthetic sensibility. Short describes a growing demand for elegance and simplicity. “That’s where a residentially-focused integrator can shine by delivering a simpler, more intuitive, and faster solution in some of these ‘light commercial’ applications,” he says.
A similar development is happening in corporate spaces, where the trend is to adopt residential aesthetics. “There’s an effort to make the office feel more ‘homey’ as return-to-work edicts have gained traction,” Short continues. “There are high-end co-working environments that may include a small café or bar, a gym, a social area, or even rental units that flow into co-working spaces. There are a multitude of residential solutions and devices that
are right at home in these deployments.”
The ultra-premium segment provides a more niche opportunity in the prosumer space, aboard superyachts, or on the luxury estates of society’s wealthiest individuals. At Crestron, Short even makes the claim that his company is more active in this space than anyone else in the industry. He says: “If our solutions are good enough for the governments around the world, they’ll certainly be good enough for these superyachts and luxury estates.”
Whilst still at AVIXA, Wargo speculated to us that financial imperatives are behind the growing enthusiasm of residential integrators for resimercial opportunities. “The residential market has been more challenged of late, as consumers put more focus out of the home. By comparison, the commercial markets has been experiencing more growth, particularly in experiential markets like venues, retail, and hospitality,” he argued.
Snap One also sees resimercial applications as a long-term market opportunity. Michael Buratto, senior director of product management explains: “Many residential installers are expanding into commercial work to diversify and future-proof their businesses, staying ahead of shifting consumer and market trends. In residential, there’s always the chance a customer might attempt a DIY project, but in commercial, that’s never the case since these projects always require professional expertise.”
Wargo agreed that genuine crossover potential exists on ‘light commercial’ projects large enough to require professional integration, but small enough that residential-style approaches remain viable. But he cautioned that larger scale projects are beyond the scope of the majority of residential integrators: “Even where some tech might bridge the gap, the project requirements are very different due to their scale, the number of users to account for, the integration into larger networks, and cybersecurity considerations.”
STUMBLING BLOCKS
It is clear that resimercial presents a real opportunity, but not all residential integrators are positioned to take advantage of it. Technical capabilities, certification requirements, and even cultural differences between sectors can limit crossover. One key challenge lies in the distinct training and certification pathways. “Right now, certifications such as CEDIA and AVIXA remain distinct,” Klein acknowledges.
CEDIA is addressing crossover through standards integration, Klein says, but potential areas of the market remain to be addressed. “By putting standards like our RP1 and RP22 at the heart of our training, we’re giving integrators a robust foundation for tackling the unique challenges of hybrid AV environments,” he explains. “But areas like conference room design and acoustic control require more targeted, application-based education, and expanding these resources is a key focus for CEDIA.”
Collaborations between AVIXA and CEDIA are growing, however. The trade bodies are in regular contact, and events like ISE demonstrate what’s possible when they unite, Klein observes: “Whilst it’s early days for fully joint initiatives, the groundwork is being laid with shared standards and training efforts.”
Manufacturers also stress the importance of dealers understanding their capabilities and limits. “Part of being a Crestron dealer is understanding the product and the opportunity, and it’s up to dealers to ensure they have the training, certifications, and teams equipped to deliver across channels and not trying to take on projects that wouldn’t fit them,” Short says. “Small residential dealers won’t be trying to tackle 150m superyachts. We wouldn’t expect a resi dealer to step in and do a 50,000sqft commercial opportunity when they haven’t touched our Flex tech.”
As the resimercial and prosumer conversation matures, it’s clear that perspectives vary, not just on what the terms mean, but on how they are central to the future of AV. AVIXA positions resimercial as just one of many intersecting trends. “The convergence between AV and adjacent markets – like IT, broadcast, security, and unified communications – is a more significant factor in today’s landscape,” Wargo stated, whilst still at the organisation. “While the crossover of residential integrators into commercial work is real, it remains a relatively small part of the broader $332bn global AV market.”
Others see resimercial as a meaningful long-term shift. Crestron’s Short points to growing demand for adaptable, scalable solutions across all types of spaces. “There are always more use cases and more businesses understanding their tech needs,” he says. “Our role is to anticipate those shifts and deliver the right solutions when specifiers express a need.”
For CEDIA, the trend is already reshaping how integrators approach business, and how to support them. “We’ve revamped our Learning Management System to give members more flexible, on-demand access to training,” says Klein. “Our goal is to equip integrators with the tools they need to thrive in the hybrid resimercial marketplace.”
