Girl Scouts of the United States of America are going online to help sell their cookies. The century-old institution will embrace an e-commerce model as well as the 21st century next year by overturning its ban on selling their mint thins and other cookies online.
The New York Times was the first to report that Girl Scouts will attempt to present their case of selling these cookies for a good cause in writing instead of in person. According to the initiative, each member receives a Digital Cookie platform and is permitted to share it with friends, family members and anyone else who is given an invitation.
Aside from generating sales of its cookies, the primary objective of this cookie program is for Girl Scouts to learn five essential skills with a digital effort: business ethics, decision making, goal setting, money management and people skills. Also, these cookie web portals can be customized with first names – last names will be omitted for safety and security purposes – and consist of sales pages with videos offering their pitch.
“This is something that is essential for girls going into the 21st century and beyond,” said Katie Spoer, Girl Scouts of Great New York’s Director of Product Sales, in an interview with the New York Daily News. “Girls have to think about how they are going to communicate effectively and persuasively in writing rather than in person.”
In addition, there is a mobile platform, too. The mobile option, which can be accessed on any smartphone or tablet, allows Girl Scouts to track sales and fulfill orders of bundles of various kinds of cookies.
Prior to the Dec. 12 launch of its cookie website in select parts of the U.S., Girl Scouts were limited to door-to-door selling, booths in front of stores and sheets sent into their parents’ workplace. It should be noted that its online venture won’t replace these old-fashioned methods.
The program will launch nationwide in January, which will also prove beneficial for contributors, who may not always have the change to buy the cookies in person, because now they can pay by credit card. Each box costs between $3.50 and $5 – $0.99 is given to the manufacturer and $0.65 goes to the troop.
“During cookie season my daughter is wearing her (scout) vest on the subway and people are so excited to see a Girl Scout,” Troop Leader Karen Porcher explained to Fox News. “Strangers actually will buy a case of cookies and wait for her to call. This is going to be amazing because now she can just say ‘Give me your business card,’ or ‘I’ll take your email address,’ send the email and they can be delivered. This is gonna be sweet.”
The philanthropic organization projects approximately one million Girl Scouts to sign up for the brand new digital endeavor. The veteran Girl Scouts argue that the online experiment could very well help the newer members learn a few skills and tricks, including digital entrepreneurship and building client relationships. As previously noted, the webpages can only be accessed through invitations, which means Girl Scouts have to construct their own contact lists and find prospects.
