Brands are different than retailers.  Brands don’t compete online on price in a standard storefront.  Instead, Brands are focused on creating a compelling brand experience that converges Commerce, Content and Community to increase brand equity.  Most Brands are unclear, however, on exactly the best way to do this and many wrongly assume they need to buy separate software platforms to enable Commerce, Content and Community.

Nikki Baird, Managing Partner at Retail Systems Research and former Forrester Analyst, has recently completed a paper on this topic (see below).  She reviews the 3C model and enhances it based on in-depth interviews with leading Brands and Retailers.  Through her research she determines that through Customer Insight Brands can determine the right mix of Commerce, Content and Community for any given Context.  Context describes both the physical context (on-mobile, online, in-store) as well as the mental context (research, consideration, purchase, etc.)

Take a read through the paper and share your thoughts below.  What do you find helpful about this model?  What is missing?