Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang Province, will apply to the central government to set up an online free trade zone in a bid to boost cross-border e-commerce, a Hangzhou official said at an e-commerce expo, news portal chinanews.com reported Saturday.

Tong Guili, a senior official with the city's Party committee, revealed the plan on Friday and said Hangzhou will facilitate cross-border e-commerce development with innovative management and service, the report said.

Hangzhou is one of the five cross-border e-commerce pilot cities approved by China's General Administration of Customs in 2012.

The city launched a cross-border e-commerce industry park in July 2013, media reports said.

China's cross-border e-commerce retailing industry saw $21.4 billion revenue in 2013, with 33.3 percent year-on-year growth, according to Tong, who said the pilot program is not enough for Hangzhou, chinanews.com reported.

Currently, Hangzhou has introduced 122 cross-border e-commerce enterprises, including some famous companies such as the e-commerce website of Intime Retail Group, local news portal hangzhou.com.cn reported Saturday.

Hangzhou has a prosperous e-commerce industry, including Alibaba Group Holding, the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant, so it has sound experience in the sector, and the local government has provided active support, Tang Jia, an industry analyst with Beijing-based market research firm Analysys International, told the Global Times Sunday.

The leading e-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba's tmall.com, get enough user visits, which is crucial for e-commerce, she said, while kuajingtong.com, the e-commerce retailing platform of  China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), is still not well-known.

It is a wise plan for Hangzhou to seek to set up an online free trade zone since it has no port, which is essential for the physical trade business, Lu ­Zhenwang, founder of Shanghai Wanqing Commerce Consulting, told the Global Times Sunday.

Due to its short distance from Shanghai, Hangzhou has to find a way to differentiate itself from the Shanghai FTZ, therefore, it should focus on the service industry, for instance, finance and tourism, rather than physical trade, Lu noted.

It only takes one and a half hours from Shanghai to Hangzhou by high-speed train.

With a preferential policy for a free trade zone in place, overseas financial and travel services can be made available to Chinese consumers in a more convenient way, which is also in accordance with Alibaba's efforts in providing online finance and online tourism services, said Lu.

Alibaba just announced on October 28 its new online business brand Alitrip, which will focus on ticket booking and auto rental.

On October 16, Alibaba officially spun off its financial arm Ant Financial as one of its subsidiaries, signaling Alibaba's ambition to expand its financial landscape.