Futurologist Shivvy Jervis, founder of innovation consultancy FutureScape 248, looks into the future for retail leaders.

As we move closer to the hope of emerging at the other end of the pandemic, retail leaders have pressing questions about the future of the sector. Will physical stores be phased out? How might creative digital solutions infuse emotion back into online shopping? Could the science behind what sparks incentive or intrigue be used to inform retail decisions?

As a futurologist studying market forces and consumer psychology, I believe four factors will be shaping retail for the long term.

One shift we are already at the cusp of today is ecommerce incorporating a more "real life" element via the use of augmented reality (AR), in turn evolving to what my forecasting lab FutureScape 248 has coined "a-commerce".

The premise does not call for expensive headsets. Consumers can fire up their mobile devices camera, point it at a visual trigger a QR code or brand logo, for instance and then at their kitchen, street or even themselves. The AR experience pushes digital information to their phone, projecting over their real world. Shoppers can visualise whether the pair of pricey sneakers they are coveting will be flattering on their feet, or how that sofa would look in their living room and if it would fit the space.

We anticipate potential revenue generation from AR ads on personal devices to stand at between $12bn-$14bn (8bn-10bn) globally by 2022 and conversion increases over traditional ecommerce methods to hit 250% for retail sites.

Reach out: elevate your employees to the status of "storyteller"

Using influencer marketing to build reach is not new. Broadening our notion of who qualifies as an influencer, however, could provide an early edge.

Considering the long-term impacts of Covid on the industry, retailers would do well to think beyond partnering with typical market influencers crucial as they might be and invest time and resource into their own workforces. This could be by encouraging users to engage using a brand challenge or hashtag, or supporting employees who create brand profiles themselves to showcase products more editorially, or even an intimate day in the life that reveals pressures and pleasures of the brand alike.

FutureScape 248 predicts employee advocacy will surge by as much as 30%-40% over the next two years alone. Retailers that elevate their own employees to storyteller status will also result in attracting more diverse new talent.

Ease off: it is important to ensure the shopper does not feel "pushed" to buy

Traditional market research can be riddled with bias and skewed figures. Bringing neuroscience into the mix gives us more intimate insights, and can tell us what happens to the actual neurotransmitters or signals in our brain when we face a choice overload, abandon a decision or feel stimulated.

For example, it has been discovered that just before we give up on an activity say, a search for a certain product our brains emit nociceptin. This chemical suppresses dopamine the "feel-good" neurotransmitter, which is frequently associated with motivation. The crisp and clear takeaway? Ensure the customer does not feel manipulated or "pushed" during the buyer journey (on or offline) and keep rewards a mix of short-term and long-term goals. Doing this prevents the nociceptin being emitted in too great a quantity and keeps the right amount of dopamine flowing.

For retail to thrive far into the rest of this decade, it will need to keep abreast of neuroscience discoveries more closely. Our analysis reveals brands that make scientifically backed decisions stand to triple revenue over others.

Finally, we may enjoy the ease of use of virtual browsing, but by and large the public have a deep-seated, often romantic view of bricks-and-mortar stores as an experience in themselves. The social aspect of shopping milling around in a store with great ambience simply cannot be undervalued.

Despite physical presence being scaled down as a response to the pandemic, the stores still standing that are prepared to embrace digital developments will see these human-centred advances augment and accentuate, rather than replacingthe shopping experience for many.

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The future of fashion will be shaped by these four factors - Drapers