But is Alibaba really well prepared for the bleak season? If not, it is not for lack of trying. On September 4, the company's parent, Alibaba Group, which is 39-percent owned by Yahoo Inc., said it was combining the operations of its two fastest-growing units-Alimama.com, an online advertising service, and Taobao, an auction site-to achieve further synergies. The combination of the two free-of-charge services would attract more merchants and give consumers more choices, the company said in a statement. The announcement came after several international investment banks downgraded Alibaba's shares as global woes forced small and medium-sized firms to cut their spending. Prior to that, its Yahoo China unit, a search engine and lifestyle portal, was merged into its Koubei.com, one of the country's largest classified listing and community websites.

Meanwhile, Alibaba had attempted to assuage investors' fears about its future, noting that it saw growth opportunities in its online marketplaces as suppliers and buyers searched further for more alternatives in case a U.S. slowdown negatively impacted their existing business partners.

Han Wei, an Alibaba spokesman, told Beijing Review that the financial crisis presented an opportunity for the company, because more traders preferred doing business online to cut their costs in difficult times.

"Moreover, efficient and low-cost e-commerce could add fuel to the product and technology innovation for labor-intensive exporters," he said.

Han also dismissed rumors that the company would shed jobs, noting that it was instead launching a massive recruitment campaign for further expansion.

But some industry analysts who follow the company interpreted Han's comments as an attempt to batten down the hatches before any storms hit. Huang said the current staff expansion could do little to take downward pressure off the company because Alibaba's business model has shown some cracks.

After years of torrid growth, Alibaba saw the number of its total paying members hit 36,800 by the end of June, significantly diluting the exposure that suppliers could get on the site. Suppliers have far outnumbered buyers on the site, leading to a price-cutting game that eats into suppliers' margins.

"The high membership fees of Alibaba have also become affordable for many small and medium-sized exporters that are taking blows from the overseas economic downturns," Huang said.

As a result, many suppliers have switched to cheaper and more efficient online marketing models, such as the emerging e-commerce site Netsun.com and the bidding rank offered by search engine Baidu.com.

Baidu raked in a total of 570 million yuan ($83.4 million) in fees from its members-small and medium-sized enterprises-in the first quarter of this year while Alibaba got only 200 million yuan ($29.3 million), according to the companies' quarterly financial reports. Baidu recently announced plans to launch a consumer-to-consumer service next year, a move expected to challenge Alibaba's dominance in consumer-to-consumer e-commerce.

"Of course, Alibaba would take some heart from the country's stimulation efforts to the export sector, such as higher rebate rates and lower taxes," said Huang. "The company may focus more on domestic businesses and is likely to cut its membership fees in the near future to polish its appeal to clients."