Alibaba to cut back on graduate recruitment

However, it seems that persuading Chinese people to spend more on its sites will be a challenging task, especially with the slowdown of the Chinese economy.

Alibaba's report for the quarter ended June 30 showed that its total revenue reached $3.27 billion, up 28 percent year-on-year, which was much slower compared with the around 60 percent year-on-year growth in previous years.

The company, which had the world's largest IPO in last September, saw its stock price dip below its offer price of $68 for the first time in late August.

Mo Daiqing, an analyst with China E-Commerce Research Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, blamed fierce competition, especially the rise of other online shopping sites in China, for the slowdown in Alibaba's business.

Lu from Wanqing Consultancy said: "With the slowing growth of people's incomes, the money they want to spend online will see no rapid growth in the coming year, which is expected to hurt Alibaba's e-commerce business."

To seek new growth points, the company has expanded into new areas, such as finance, cloud computing and the movie industry.

"But it will take a while for the new businesses to offset the slowdown of e-commerce business," he said.