Abstract: The consumer’s channel selection in the context of multi-channel marketing has been under the spotlight recently. From the perspective of matching theory, this paper firstly explains the causes leading to contradictory conclusions in previous researches, then analyzes the three elements influencing consumer’s channel selection: product features, channel characteristics, and consumer characteristics, as well as their measurement dimensions. It also analyzes the matching mechanism between the above-mentioned three factors and the consumer behavior under different types of matching. This study can provide valuable theoretical guidance for the channel strategy development of multi-channel marketing companies.

Key words: multi-channel marketing; channel selection; matching mechanism