HANGZHOU -- Zhejiang province, an e-commerce heartland and foreign trade hub in east China, reported a robust increase in cross-border e-commerce trade in the first 11 months of this year.

The export value of retail sales through cross-border e-commerce in the province reached 91.16 billion yuan (about $13.95 billion), up 28.9 percent year-on-year, according to the province's department of commerce.

Meanwhile, the retail imports of cross-border e-commerce rose 33.4 percent to 33.9 billion yuan, driving up the province's import growth by 1.2 percentage points.

Zhejiang established seven new comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones this year -- Wenzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Quzhou, Taizhou and Lishui -- encouraging the local government to introduce more supporting policies.

The province will provide more convenience and better services for the development of cross-border e-commerce, said Sheng Qiuping, director of the department.