This article delves into the innovative application of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology-based automated solutions in the management of last-mile express delivery stores. Through a practical case study of TUXI Supermarket, a subsidiary of ZTO Express, this article demonstrates how its deployed OCR automatic recognition system achieves rapid collection and processing of parcel information. It provides a comprehensive optimization solution for enhancing store operational efficiency, improving customer experience, and reducing costs.

User Background

ZTO Express owns TUXI Supermarket. This subsidiary is dedicated to enhancing the image of its stores, communities, campuses, and ZTO delivery/pickup points. Its goals also include reducing delivery operations for couriers, lowering customer complaints and avoiding fines, competing in the express delivery market, and increasing outlet revenue.

Challenges

With the continuous growth of express delivery business volume, TUXI Supermarket faces severe efficiency and cost challenges in its daily operations: it needs to handle the shipping processes for tens of thousands of parcels every day. Traditionally, to send pickup notifications to recipients, operators had to manually input the recipient's mobile phone number from each parcel. This process not only consumes significant manpower but, more critically, if a number is entered incorrectly, it leads to undelivered notification messages and incurs invalid communication costs. This highly manual, error-prone process highlights the urgent need for an automated alternative.

Before introducing the OCR recognition solution, TUXI Supermarket faced the following specific operational bottlenecks in the parcel information entry process:

• High labor costs, low efficiency: Complete reliance on manual visual recognition and typing of massive volumes of mobile phone numbers became the main efficiency bottleneck in the workflow.
• High error rate, leading to additional costs: Manual entry is highly prone to input errors and omissions. Incorrect phone numbers cause notification messages to fail to reach customers, triggering complaints while the company still has to pay for these undeliverable messages, directly driving up operational costs.
• Damaged customer experience and outlet revenue: Untimely or incorrect information notifications affect the customer pickup experience, potentially leading to increased complaints, higher risk of fines, and ultimately constraining improvements in outlet service quality and revenue.

By deploying the SEUIC AUTOID Q9 mobile computer solution integrated with its self-developed OCR tool, TUXI Supermarket achieved significant operational value:

• Multi-fold improvement in operational efficiency: OCR technology achieves the automatic recognition and extraction of information from parcel waybills. Production efficiency increased by over 100% compared to the traditional pure manual approach.

• Optimized service and safeguarded revenue: Ensured the timeliness and accuracy of expreess notifications, improved customer satisfaction, helped reduce complaints and avoid fines, thereby protecting and increasing outlet revenue.

TUXI Supermarket adopted an automated information collection solution featuring deep integration of "hardware + algorithm":

• Deployment of high-performance OCR recognition terminals: Used the SEUIC AUTOID Q9 mobile computer as the core hardware platform, integrated with its self-developed efficient OCR recognition tool. Operators simply need to use the device to scan the parcel waybill, and the system can quickly and accurately recognize key information such as the recipient's mobile phone number within 150 milliseconds.
• Achieved an automated process closed-loop: The recognized mobile phone numbers are automatically filled into the system and trigger the messages sending process. This solution achieves a recognition accuracy rate of over 99%, completely replacing the cumbersome, error-prone manual entry precess, and achieves end-to-end automation from information collection to notification triggering, significantly improving work efficiency and data accuracy.