Alibaba.com has announced a change in its current sales channel strategy.

Under the new strategy, Alibaba is changing its direct sales pattern which has been operational since its establishment in 1999 and for the first time it will adopt an agent system in some provinces and cities.

Lu Guangyu, general manager of Alibaba Shanghai, will be responsible for the new agent sales pattern. Lu told local media that the company would first introduce the agent system for their "Cheng Xin Tong" service in Shanghai, Chongqing, Sichuan and Hebei and the agents for this service would share the income with Alibaba at a percentage lower than that of rival Baidu.com.

Alibaba says it currently has about 20000 "Cheng Xin Tong" users in those four regions.