The performance of energy saving of Open Air Multideck Cooler has established it as the preferred product in the retail cold chain. Vertical air curtain technology can preserve cold air loss to 15% of the ordinary refrigerator, and the power consumption is just 0.3kW·h/m³/day, which is 40% higher than the energy-saving of closed-door refrigerator. The measured data from a supermarket chain show that using an open multi-layer refrigerator, the change of cold meat surface temperature is reduced from ±2.5 ° C to ±0.3 ° C, the shelf life is extended by 3 days, the rate of shelf loss is reduced from 8.5% to 1.2%, and the cost of fresh waste per year is reduced by more than 580,000 yuan. The EC variable frequency compressors of the models can work in a wide range of temperatures between -25 ° C and +10 ° C with a recovery rate of 0.5 ° C/min and meet the 98% compliance rate of HACCP food safety rules, as per the Technavio 2023 report.
Space efficiency and aesthetic appeal contribute to sales growth directly. The 4-story configuration of the common open multi-story refrigerator has a 1.2-2.4 meter display height, and the machinery takes up space of 0.8×1.5 meters to transport 600 liters of cargo, three times as efficient as the conventional cabinet. After a convenience store introduced the device, its turnover on the dairy shelf increased from 1.2 to 2.5 times a week, its impulse purchasing rate increased by 27%, and its average sales per day increased by 15%. Its 5° tilt shelf setup increases 40% more of visible merchandise space, and utilizing 3000K color temperature LED lighting, SKU recognition time is reduced by 1.8 seconds/piece, while customer dwell time is boosted by 22%.
Technology development is driven by customer needs and by regulation. The global open multilayer refrigerator market will increase from $4.6 billion in 2022 to $7.2 billion in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.3%, 78% of which are low-GWP refrigerant models driven by F-gas regulation constraints in Europe. An R290 (propane) refrigeration system by a manufacturer lowers the GWP from 3922 to 3 in conventional R404A and saves an additional 18% on ENERGY use by earning ENERGY STAR’s highest rating. The 2023 Walmart supply chain case finds that by introducing smart models, real-time monitoring of 0.1 ° C temperature variation and CO₂ concentration (±50ppm precision) through IoT sensors reduces cold chain disruption events by 92% and raises inventory accuracy to 99.7%.
Industry popularization is driven by operating cost advantage. The entry level open multi-storey freezer costs approximately $8,000 – $15,000 to purchase, with a typical return on investment of 18 months, and the modular design reduces shelf replacement time from 45 minutes to 5 minutes. Upon the application of air-cooled + atomized moisture dual mode models by a new electricity supplier, leafy vegetable weight loss rate drops from 5% to 0.8%, shelf life reaches 7 days, distribution frequency drops by 33%, and the cost of logistics is preserved by 19%. According to ASHRAE, heat recovery models can recover up to 85% of waste heat for in-store heating or hot water supply, reducing carbon emissions by 4.2 tons per unit annually, and improving companies’ ESG rating by 30%. All these technical specifications make it an essential solution for the modern retail cold chain.