Purchases made through mobile devices in South Korea continued record-breaking performances in September as use of smartphones have fully caught on with local consumers, government data showed Thursday.

Mobile transactions through smartphones and tablets reached a fresh record high of 4.24 trillion won ($3.8 billion) in September, up 42.6 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea.

The total amount of mobile transactions accounted for 61.9 percent of all online purchases made during the month.

Mobile purchases in South Korea have been on a steep rise for years as smart devices are expanding their presence in the world's most wired country and rapidly replacing computers as a means of conducting online transactions.

Mobile bookings for travel and movie tickets soared 33.4 percent in September from a year earlier to 581 billion won in the summer vacation season, while sales of cosmetics jumped 25.1 percent on-year to 371.5 billion won.

Food delivery services shot up 71.8 percent on-year to a record 756.3 billion won in the same month, while 371.6 billion won worth of electronic goods was sold through smartphones, up 49.8 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap)