When Girl Scouts in Maine begin selling their ubiquitous cookies next month as part of their annual fundraising cookie sale, there will be a new way for customers to get their cookie fix: online.
For the first time, the 102-year-old organization founded by Juliette Gordon Low in Georgia has created a Web-based buying program that will allow girls to safely sell cookies to people they know.
“Today’s girls are digital natives, and they wanted a cookie program that can teach them 21st century skills in 21st century ways — skills they’ll need to have in order to be leaders in today’s high-tech world,” said Cortney Smart, marketing and communications manager for the Girl Scouts of Maine. “In addition to helping girls build the 5 Skills of the traditional Girl Scout Cookie Program — goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics — Digital Cookie will teach e-marketing, online commerce, website usage, digital order taking and shipping, all vital activities for modern business and modern life.”
Not only will Girl Scouts be able to set up personalized online sale sites via Digital Cookie, but they also will be able to accept in-person orders via a smartphone app called CoCo Mobile, Smart said.
“Girls will also be able to send a specialized e-card to their customers, with a link to order cookies online,” Smart said. “Customers will be able to place their order, enter their credit card information safely and have their order shipped directly to their house.”
Favorite cookies can be ordered by the half case, full case or in a cookie sampler package. Case sizes vary based on variety.
For scouts and customers in Maine, this will make cookie buying during the cold days of winter a little toastier.
“Selling cookies in Maine in the winter is certainly a character-building experience, so Digital Cookie is a new way that girls can participate in this Girl Scout program with a bit more comfort for them and a bit more convenience for customers,” Smart said.
Smart said Maine’s scouts only learned of the new Digital Cookie program Monday when it was announced, so there hasn’t been a lot of reaction from scouts and leaders in the Pine Tree State yet.
“The reaction we have had so far, while small, has been positive,” she said.
How will this impact sales in Maine this year? Smart says it’s too soon to tell.
“This is the introductory year for online cookie sales, so we cannot predict if there will be a great increase in volume,” Smart said. “But we know that it will meet some of the needs of both today’s girls and customers.”
If you prefer the traditional methods of cookie buying — via sales sheets or at cookie booths — fear not. Those methods aren’t going away, Smart said.
Cookie sales begin in January. Boxes of the coveted cookies are sold for $4 in Maine, with several gluten-free varieties available for $5 per box.