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From Home Furnishing Business
DOVR Media & Shopify Address AI Effect on Consumer’s Discovery
January 11,
2026 by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry 
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly redefining how consumers discover products, evaluate brands, and make purchase decisions, signaling a fundamental shift away from traditional search-led commerce, according to Dovr Media and Shopify, whose senior executives will address these issues at two upcoming trade events.
These changes will be a central focus at the National Retail Federation’s 2026: Retail’s Big Show and the Winter 2026 Las Vegas Market, where Jake Freedman, CEO of Dovr Media, the world’s largest provider of Shopify websites for the home furnishings industry, will explore how evolving consumer behavior and AI-powered discovery models are transforming retail, particularly for high-consideration categories like home furnishings along with executives from the e-commerce platform.
For more than two decades, traditional search traffic steadily increased, shaping how retailers invested in SEO and digital marketing. That trend has now shifted. Consumers are discovering products through AI assistants, large language models, and recommendation engines that prioritize context, trust, and authority over keywords alone.
“Product discovery is entering an entirely new phase,” said Freedman. “As AI becomes a primary gateway to information and commerce, retailers must rethink how they show up where decisions are actually being made.”
A key topic of discussion will be Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—the emerging discipline focused on ensuring brands and products surface accurately and credibly within AI-powered discovery environments. While GEO builds foundational SEO principles, it introduces new requirements, including structured data, authoritative content signals, consistent brand narratives, and third-party validation through digital PR.
“GEO isn’t a replacement for SEO, but an evolution of it,” he added. “Retailers need to understand how AI systems interpret trust, relevance, and expertise, especially in categories where purchases are infrequent, high-value, and heavily researched.”
Dovr Media is already applying these strategies across its retail client base, enhancing product descriptions, imagery, metadata, digital PR, and social signals to improve performance across both traditional search engines and AI-driven platforms. The company reports that strategic digital public relations and earned media can drive up to a 20-percent increase in overall findability, while more than 70-percent of traditional SEO fundamentals now directly align with GEO best practices.
As AI reshapes the path to purchase, retailers that adapt early stand to gain a meaningful advantage, remaining visible, trusted, and relevant at the moment of discovery, rather than competing solely on price or promotion.
Founded to help independent retailers transition to the digital age, Dovr Media has built more than 1,000 revenue-generating websites that collectively drive billions in sales. The company specializes in turning websites into powerful revenue channels through e-commerce, digital signage, and AI-powered customer retention programs.
As the largest provider of Shopify websites in the home furnishings industry, Dovr Media serves more than 500 retail and manufacturer clients across North America. Its tailored marketing services include search engine optimization, paid advertising, AI-powered in-store signage, and customer retention strategies. For more information, visit https://www.dovrmedia.com/.