Australians spent much of 2020 “cocooning” and it has driven remarkable sales results for major home-related retailers, according to an expert. Prof. Gary Mortimer, an expert in marketing and consumer behaviour at QUT Business School, explained that “cocooning” is a term used to describe individuals who prefer to stay home and insulate themselves from perceived outside dangers. “We saw consumers or individuals cocooning after 9/11 in the United States,” Mortimer told The Epoch Times. “I think the impact of the COVID period created uncertainty and also this psychology of ‘staying at home with my family,'” he said. As a result, retailers such as JB Hi-Fi, Super Retail Group, Beacon Lighting, and Adairs saw record sales in the second half of 2020. “JB Hi-Fi certainly won out when people started to head in to buy cameras, microphones, updating their notebooks and tablets, headsets, those types of consumer electronics,” Mortimer said. “The same thing happened for Super Retail Group, so …