Ask an Israeli where her purse is from, and you’ll likely receive the smug answer, “from abroad.” This of course comes as no surprise to anyone who’s ever strolled down New York’s Fifth Avenue or London’s Oxford Street, since there are few things Israelis love more than shopping outside the bounds of the Holy Land.

In recent years Israelis have discovered the pleasures of ordering from the comfort of their own homes, or, considering the national mobile phone addiction, from work or on the bus. For quite a few people, not a week goes by without an overseas package arriving in the post.

The year 2018 was a record-breaker in the field of online commerce. More than 65 million packages were delivered from abroad, weighing a total of 14,100 tons, according to the Israel Postal Company.

The leading items ordered by Israelis were clothing and footwear, kitchen accessories and other housewares, together with electronics, computers and gadgets. Vitamins and cosmetics, which are often much cheaper outside of Israel, were also ordered en masse.

The leading retailer in 2018 was Ali Express, from which 50 percent of orders were made. It was followed by firm favorite eBay, while the biggest jump in orders was identified in Amazon and British clothing merchants Next and Asos.

Next even has a Hebrew website, and is a particular favorite among Israeli moms buying clothes for their kids. Unsurprisingly then, most packages arriving in Israel originated in China, the United States and the United Kingdom.

According to Israel Post, around 43 million packages were delivered to Israel’s 20 largest cities. Tel Aviv residents ordered the largest net amount of packages in 2018 – a whopping 5.1 million, averaging 9.53 parcels per person.