Shopping format choice has been an interesting and important area of research in the academic literature
from long time. However, research in this area is presently at a nascent stage in India. There are a very
few studies which focus on store format choice in India which includes the works of Anand and Sinha
(2009), Prasad and Aryasri (2008), Sinha and Banerjee (2004) and Tripathi and Sinha (2008). The present
study compares three different retail formats (Discount stores, Exclusive stores and Multi-brand outlets)
based on the shopper's perception of relationship quality (RQ) of these stores using multivariate
techniques. For addressing, the objective of this study a sample of 313 shoppers is used. Results suggest
that “conflict due to store” and “combined overall RQ due to the store and its employees” influence the
store format choice. The RQ levels among the apparel store format are highly competitive