girl scouts of the USA today announced that for the first time in its history, girls will be able to sell cookies online as part of a new national Digital Cookie platform. And yes, your local troops will start their very first online sales this January 1, 2015!
Digital Cookie is a revolutionary addition to the Girl Scout Cookie Program that will enhance and expand the program’s ability to teach girls new skills for business and life. The groundbreaking platform adds a digital layer that broadens and strengthens the essential five skills girls learn in the traditional cookie program: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. The future of the Girl Scout Cookie Program, Digital Cookie will introduce vital 21st Century lessons about online marketing, application use, and e-commerce to more than one million excited girl scouts – and to the 7,000+ girl scouts locally here in Virginia Skyline Council.
Of course, Girl Scouts will still sell friend-to-friend (in-person) and outside your local grocery store at a booth sale. Digital Cookie just brings one more fantastic way for girls to increase their business sales toolkit.
Digital Cookie follows Girl Scouts’ classic “hands on” approach to teaching girls new skills. Through the platform, local girl scouts will be able to take in-person cookie orders from customers and, for the first time, automate cookie shipments through a unique transaction application designed specifically for girl scouts. Customers who buy cookies from girls using the application will be able to have their order processed, paid for, and confirmed right in front of their eyes. The platform places an emphasis on the safety of girls and customers alike and offers an online experience that allows girls to learn about digital money management using dashboards to track their sales and goals, and teaches modern skills while aligning with the interests of today’s girls.
“Through Digital Cookie, we are bringing the Girl Scout Cookie Program fully into the 21st Century,” stated Jean Ann Hughes, CEO of girl scouts of Virginia Skyline. “Digital Cookie lets us continue our proud tradition of teaching today’s girls the skills of tomorrow, while remaining true to the core principles of the Girl Scout mission and the values taught by our iconic cookie program. So join us this cookie season in making Girl Scout history!”
Over two-thirds of the female CEOs on the Fortune 500 list learned basic business acumen by selling Girl Scout Cookies, and are part of the more than 59 million living Girl Scout alumnae today. Yet only 21 percent of chief information officers at Fortune 100 companies are women, and an even smaller number are CEOs of firms engaged in science, engineering, technology, or mathematics, known as the stem fields. Digital Cookie tailors the traditional Girl Scout Cookie Program to fit the modern world, helping give more girls an important foundation in technology. It also gives customers a new way to help girls learn 21st Century skills that dovetail with traditional door-to-door and booth sales to combine customer relationship and interpersonal skills with e-commerce training.
”Girl Scout Cookies have always been about so much more than a delicious treat––they’re about helping girls learn important business lessons,” said Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of girl scouts of the USA. “This year, when you’re buying your Thin Mints and Caramel deLites digitally, you can feel good that you’re helping girls learn the five skills the cookie program has always instilled in a 21st Century way, turning today’s girls into tomorrow’s business and tech leaders.”
As with the traditional cookie program, the net revenue earned from the cookie sale will remain with the Girl Scout council that sponsors the sale. Girls decide how to spend their troop cookie money and reinvest it back into their neighborhoods through community service projects and learning experiences, like travel opportunities. Because 100 percent of the net revenue raised through the Girl Scout Cookie Program stays with the local council and troops, customers who purchase Girl Scout Cookies are not only getting a delightful treat—they are also making an important investment in their communities.
Today’s launch of Digital Cookie represents an initial phase of a program that will progress over time. Future versions of Digital Cookie will create better user experiences for girls and customers alike, and a more robust customer interface. A majority of the 112 Girl Scout councils nationwide are participating in Digital Cookie in the 2014–2015 cookie season, with additional councils expected to be on board by the end of 2015, using an updated version 2.0.
girl scouts of Virginia Skyline will begin using the platform at the start of its cookie selling season on January 1, 2015. For information about Virginia Skyline’s 2014-2015 cookie season, visit www.gsvsc.org/cookiesale
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