South Korea’s direct purchases from foreign countries rose 31 percent in 2018 from a year earlier on rising consumer demand for cheaper and higher quality products, customs data showed.

South Korean shoppers bought a total of $2.75 billion worth of foreign goods directly via overseas internet shopping malls in 2018, compared with $2.11 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korean Customs Service.

The number of overseas direct purchases jumped 37 percent on-year to 32.25 million transactions over the same period, the data showed.