Version 1.1 — the standard
A structured, evidence-based standard for evaluating any retail brand across its full commercial dimension — platform-agnostic, methodology-transparent, and expert-reviewed.
Architecture
Every score produced under RBSI can be traced back through topics and benchmark ranks to the individual assessment points that produced it.
Assessment points: facts and measurements about a brand, each with a source. Discovery points describe the brand; scored points are measured and compared.
Each scored point is ranked against a governed benchmark rule. Ranks are combined into a holistic topic assessment, and topics feed three dimensions.
The base score is moderated by risk, checked for stability, and published with a rating and its evidence coverage.
Topics and assessment points
Evidence clusters around business questions, each one a topic. Two establish who the brand is and who it is for, one (Risk & Resilience) moderates the score, one is a reference topic, and the rest are assessed and combined into the score. Discovery points (264) describe a brand and can be corrected by it; scored points (196) are measured, compared and never brand-editable.
The three dimensions
Every scored assessment point is also tagged with the dimension it speaks to, often cutting across topics. Each dimension is calculated only from the topics that have evidence for it, so an absent topic never lowers a score.
| Dimension | Question |
|---|---|
| Strength | Is the brand fundamentally sound right now? |
| Momentum | Is its trajectory improving or declining? |
| Affinity | Does it command genuine customer attachment and cultural relevance? |
Risk
A brand can be strong, growing and loved while carrying material downside, so risk is a separate, moderating factor on the base score. It applies only when the evidence is relevant, brand-specific, sufficient and material, and it is deliberately moderate while scanning and calibration mature.
Gates and scoring readiness
A brand that cannot yet be assessed is marked Under analysis. It is never given zero, or a default value, because a low score would imply an assessment that did not take place.
| A brand is ready when… |
|---|
| It is identifiable: its official website and presence are confirmed. |
| Its audience is understood. |
| Enough evidence exists to assess its essential topics and its risk profile. |
| Enough eligible evidence exists across the model to support a score overall. |
Ratings
The rating describes the published RBSI, not a definitive judgement about the brand. Moderate never means that information is missing. Rating bands are maintained by Squarefeet as versioned configuration.
| Rating | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Exceptional | The highest range, supported by strong overall evidence. Used sparingly. |
| Strong | A solid range with a generally favourable assessed profile. |
| Good | A positive profile with room to improve on some topics. |
| Moderate | A more mixed or lower assessed profile, based on the evidence actually assessed. |