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Obs and Obs BYGG: Data-Driven Growth Through Smarter Search and Testing

Find out how Coop Norway’s leading retail chains, Obs and Obs BYGG, future-proofed their digital sales with smarter technology, strategic experimentation, and a trusted partner. 

obsbygg-case

Industry

Retail



Geography

Norway

Project scope

E-commerce, Customer Experience

Website

obs.no
obsbygg.no

Solutions

Avensia Nitro, Voyado Elevate 4

 

obs-obsbygg-coop-logo-white

 

 

Obs and Obs BYGG are two of Norway’s most well-known retail chains, operated by Coop Norway. While Obs offers a wide product range from groceries to electronics and home goods, Obs BYGG focuses on DIY and home improvement, catering to both everyday consumers and professional builders. As part of Coop’s commitment to reinvesting in customer value and community, both chains have built their reputations around convenience, quality, and trust. When the time came to scale that experience online, the ambition was clear: the digital journey had to reflect the same intuitive, relevant, and personalized experience that customers expect in-store.

The challenge Personalizing Search and Recommendations

With more than 30,000 unique items online, the existing product discovery setup was no longer enough. Manually curated recommendations couldn’t scale, and offline and online purchase history data didn’t consistently deliver relevant results. The consequence was clear: fewer items in carts and a low conversion online. For Coop, search and recommendations are a hygiene factor, and Obs and Obs BYGG needed a more intelligent, scalable way to personalize search and recommendations, empower internal teams, and minimize operational risk. But when Coop set out to upgrade the product discovery experience by updating Obs and Obs BYGG's Product Discovery Platform, one challenge stood out:

Search and recommendation algorithms have been trained and optimized on categories like fashion, electronics, and makeup for years, but for Obs and Obs BYGG’s wide range of assortments, including building materials, DIY, and more, it is a different matter. Coop was unsure of the maturity and level of product understanding in these categories within the Norwegian market. 

Switching to a new product discovery platform, therefore, carried a risk. If the new platform underperformed, even temporarily, Coop risked frustrating loyal customers and losing sales in critical categories. At the same time, standing still with the old engine meant limiting growth and leaving revenue on the table. 

The solution

Testing Before Trusting

Obs and Obs BYGG already run on Avensia Nitro, Avensia’s e-commerce platform built to support large assortments, high traffic volumes, and fast time-to-market. As part of the Nitro setup, Voyado Elevate 3 (Voyado’s older search and merchandising solution), had served as the search and product relevance component, powering everything from search results to category listings and product recommendations.

Together with Avensia, Coop launched a carefully structured initiative to elevate the product discovery experience on obs.no and obsbygg.no by switching to Voyado Elevate 4, the latest version of Voyado’s AI-powered search and merchandising solution. Elevate 4 has more powerful merchandising functions than earlier versions and is the most modern discovery engine powered by AI, with a product knowledge foundation that goes beyond what Elevate 3 could deliver. 

But instead of a full rollout, Coop took a “testing before trusting” approach to minimize risk and maximize insight.

Key steps included:

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Running A/B tests with Elevate 3 (the old engine) and Elevate 4 in parallel, using real customers and live behavior.

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Ensuring risk management through test stability, isolated feature testing, and flexible adjustments to data and technical requirements.

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Expanding the project team to secure delivery deadlines while maintaining full control of outcomes.

Over the course of 10 weeks, Coop, Avensia, and Voyado set up weekly meetings where results and user behavior were assessed. Each session focused on measurable outcomes such as click-through rates, conversion shifts, and search performance. Based on these insights, the team decided whether to increase the traffic share served by Elevate 4, gradually moving more customer interactions from the old engine to the new one.

This structured approach gave Coop both confidence and control. It also introduced new ways of working, including integrating offline transaction data into online personalization and shifting merchandising responsibilities to the Obs and Obs BYGG teams with training and support from Avensia.

Obs bygg store from the outside.

The results

Increased Conversion and Revenue

The controlled test environment allowed the team to evaluate user behavior, conversion rates, and revenue performance in real time with live users and real interactions. 

Within the first few days, performance was similar between the two environments. But as the Elevate 4 engine continued to learn relationships between products in categories like DIY, tools, and electronics, the performance gains became clear.

Metrics from the A/B test showed a:

4.5%

increase in revenue from searches on obsbygg.no

5.5%

increase in add-to-carts from upsell recommendations on obs.no

Beyond the numbers:

  • Online store growth every single month during implementation.
  • A record-breaking sales month in May, coinciding with going 100% live.
  • Evidence that Elevate 4 built a stronger understanding of Coop’s unique products and customers than ever before.

 

The way the project was set up with Avensia, Coop could switch to the upgraded version as soon as the numbers surpassed the old solution, making the final go-live a non-risk decision with well-documented benefits. Once Elevate 4 consistently outperformed the previous setup, the new platform was rolled out fully, with no disruption to ongoing operations.

 This data-led approach gave Coop the ability to act with confidence. The transition was validated, measurable, and risk-free. 

  

Quote
For our starting point, where Elevate had no prior knowledge of our products, this approach was both wise and correct. Now, together with Avensia, we’ve proven that Elevate 4 generates more sales.
Øyvind Moen, Product Manager E-Commerce, Coop Norway

Throughout the initiative, Avensia has served as both strategic advisor and implementation partner, bringing expertise in personalization, data modeling, and modern merchandising practices. The close collaboration ensured that each step of the rollout was aligned with Coop’s business goals, technical landscape, and organizational structure.

With a shared understanding of the stakes and a commitment to sustainable success, the project delivered on both performance and process, building not just better results but also a more capable and confident digital team. Obs and Obs BYGG’s journey to smarter product discovery is a blueprint for how retail brands can combine personalization, testing, and team enablement to drive digital performance without unnecessary risk.

Future Work

As part of their long-term strategy, Coop will continue evolving internal processes to fully leverage the capabilities of Voyado Elevate 4 for Obs and Obs BYGG. Ongoing efforts focus on embedding new ways of working and strengthening the merchandising function:

  • Upskilling through hypercare and continuous knowledge sharing with Avensia and Voyado  
  • Alignment with Coops OKRs to increase conversion and relevance through optimized merchandising 
  • Continuous discovery of capabilities and solutions that create customer and business value 

To support this, Coop has restructured responsibilities, moving product placement ownership into a dedicated merchandiser role within the chains. Updates to product articles and enrichment of category content, including filter configuration, are being transitioned from PIM to Voyado and Optimizely for improved autonomy and control.

These ongoing changes ensure that Coop can continue to test, validate, and scale their Obs and Obs BYGG online storefronts based on real customer needs

For retailers considering a new solution for search and personalization, Coop’s journey offers a clear reminder: success isn’t just about technology, it’s about how you introduce it. Testing in a controlled environment, building confidence step by step, and empowering internal teams turned what could have been a high-risk switch into a data-driven certainty.  

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Want to know how we helped Obs create data-driven growth through smarter search and testing? Let’s talk!