A standard, not a product
Real estate has cap rates. Equities have the P/E ratio. Credit has the debt rating. Retail brands have never had an equivalent — until now. RBSI gives leasing directors, investors, lenders, and brands themselves a common structure for a decision worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Why it exists
A leasing director, a PE analyst, a lender, and a brand's own leadership team can evaluate the same brand and reach four structurally incomparable conclusions — not because they hold different information, but because no shared framework exists for organising it. Evidence abundance, institutional capital, and a market that no longer requires physical presence to matter have made that gap untenable.
"We liked the brand" is no longer sufficient due diligence for a fund with LP obligations.
The architecture
Every brand evaluated under RBSI is assessed through the same chain: evidence is collected, measured against fixed benchmark rules, combined into topics and three dimensions, and moderated by a separate risk assessment. Every number can be traced back to the evidence behind it.
Two gates confirm the brand is identifiable and its audience understood. Then evidence is collected as assessment points: factual discovery points and measurable scored points, across 18 topics.
Every scored point is measured against a governed benchmark rule and ranked from Critical to Very Strong. Ranks are combined into one holistic assessment per topic.
Topics feed three dimensions: is the brand sound right now, is its trajectory improving, and does it command genuine customer attachment and cultural relevance?
Risk does not add; it moderates. A separate risk assessment adjusts the score, and only when the downside is material and evidenced. Missing information never lowers a score.
Built for every seat at the table
RBSI does not make decisions on anyone's behalf. It gives every party in a retail brand transaction the same structured intelligence, applied to the question each of them is actually asking.
Use Momentum and the store-network topics as an early-warning signal for the tenant portfolio and as a sourcing lens for brands whose trajectory is improving.
Use Strength, Momentum and Affinity as a live proxy for intangible brand value, including private brands that traditional frameworks exclude, with risk screened before financial analysis begins.
Use a verified RBSI profile as an external mirror, see exactly which topics move the score, and correct the facts that describe them. Scores themselves can never be edited.
Use RBSI outputs as reproducible, citable data points, traceable to named assessment points and benchmark rules, not a black box.
Use distribution, expansion and store-economics evidence to match brand readiness to deal structure: pop-up, concession, or long-term anchor.
Use supply chain, distribution and expansion evidence to assess whether a brand's infrastructure supports franchise deployment.
Governance
RBSI is published under CC BY-SA 4.0 — a deliberate choice that keeps the standard usable by anyone while preventing a proprietary fork from fragmenting it. The framework is reviewed annually, with every change publicly logged: what changed, why, and what evidence prompted it.
Read about governanceSignal, not opinion
Every score is published with its evidence coverage and confidence. Missing information is neutral: RBSI measures what is known about a brand and never penalises it for what is not. Published scores move within defined limits, so a change reflects the evidence, not noise.
Read the methodology