Abstract: The diversified background of software product sales channels can be divided into five categories: direct sales(D)， value-added retail(V)， agent(A)， direct marketing and value-added retail(DV)， value-added retail and agent(VA). Considering customers’ maladjustment costs of software products， a consumer utility model was established， and the decision-making problem of the sales channels of software companies was studied. Stackelberg game was used to solve and analyze， whose results showed that the dual-channel model is better than the single-channel model in general scenarios; when the cost is not suitable， software companies tend to choose the VA model. Only when the company’s bargaining power and customization costs are both low， software enterprises should adopt the DV mode for sales. When the cost is not too high， software companies will abandon the agency channel， and the service level of agents in the VA mode is always higher than that in the A mode.

Key words: software product; distribution channel; channel sales pattern; channel strategy; maladjustment cost