HANGZHOU — Zhejiang province, an e-commerce heartland in East China, reported a robust increase in online retail sales in the first two months this year.

The online retail sales of the province in the period reached 246.8 billion yuan (about $38.05 billion), up 48.5 percent from the same period last year, data from the provincial department of commerce showed.

Residents in the province, home to the e-commerce giant Alibaba, spent 138.4 billion yuan on online shopping from January to February, up 54 percent year-on-year.

Clothes, shoes and bags, home decorations, as well as computers, communication and consumer electronics ranked in the top categories in terms of online sales.