While many countries saw their stock of hydroalcoholic gel plummet as soon because the coronavirus hit, Turkey had a run on one other style of product: eau de cologne.

There, eau de cologne isn’t traditionally used as men’s scent. Relatively, its historical purpose has been as a hand sanitizer, because of its high — 80 percent — alcohol content, explained Ahu Sendilmen, global and Turkey service leader, consumer panels and member at Ipsos market research company.

When people visit friends’ homes, for example, eau de cologne is commonly proffered to scrub hands, and up to now it was on offer in buses on routes through the provinces, alongside treats to eat.

Turkey’s Ministry of Health announced the country’s first case of COVID-19 on March 10, and in the times directly following, from March 11 to 17, Ipsos noted a big change in people’s buying patterns.

Eau de cologne had “the most important growth we saw amongst all of the market categories,” said Sendilmen, referring to Ipsos’ study of 5,000 households’ purchases of fast-moving consumer goods.

Between March 11 and 17, purchases of eau de cologne shot up 256 percent versus the prior week.

“All of the shelves are empty for the time being,” said Sendilmen, adding Ipsos has never before noted such an uptick of eau de cologne buying.

“Purchase activity increased as the colleges were closed and the spread of ‘Stay at Home Turkey’ statements, especially on the sixteenth and seventeenth of March,” Ipsos said in an announcement. “Eau de cologne and vinegar were essentially the most increased categories as a consequence of a necessity of protection from the virus and sanitization.”

Turkey’s top-selling eau de colognes are produced by homegrown brands and include: Rebul Kolonya, Duru Kolonya, Bogazici Kolonya and Taris Kolonya.

The most well-liked products have a lemon scent, Sendilmen said.