As
reported far and wide, Digital Cookie is a groundbreaking new addition to the
Girl Scout Cookie Program that creates a fun, safe, interactive space for girls
to sell cookies. Digital Cookie is the first national digital platform in the
history of the iconic Girl Scout Cookie Program.
But
many questions remain about Digital Cookie. Check out the below Q&A for
answers to some of the most common Digital Cookie questions.
Digital
Cookie is a digital layer to the traditional Girl Scout Cookie Sale, which puts
girls in the driver’s seat of their own digital sales experience. Digital
Cookie allows Girl Scouts nationally to sell cookies digitally for the first
time in the program’s history, giving girls valuable twenty-first-century
entrepreneurial skills.
How
does it work—Do I just go online, order cookies and then they arrive?
No.
Like the traditional sale, Digital Cookie is a girl-driven and girl-led
business, designed with each girl's safety in mind, and therefore she must
initiate contact with people she knows to sell cookies.
With
Digital Cookie, you will be able to buy Girl Scout Cookies through two separate
digital sales platforms, depending on where you live. Some girls will market
their own online cookie business by inviting you via email to visit their
personalized cookie websites. There, you can order cookies from the comfort of
your living room.
Other
girls will take in-person orders using a unique mobile app newly enhanced to
allow for credit card processing and direct shipping, in addition to directing
you to a website where cookies can be purchased.
First and foremost, you are supporting girls. You are helping
girls learn essential skills that they will utilize for the rest of their
lives.
Digital Cookie adds a fun, digital layer that expands and
strengthens the ways girls learn the essential 5 Skills of goal setting,
decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. Digital
Cookie will expand girls' knowledge of and hands-on experience with online
marketing, app use, website customization, and e-commerce.
Why are you taking away traditional door-to-door sales?
We
are not taking away traditional sales. Booth sales and door-to-door sales are
here to stay!
Digital
Cookie expands and enhances girls' experience by giving them a fun new way to
learn 21st century skills while providing another channel through which to sell
cookies. So this cookie season, depending on your location, a Girl Scout could
approach you through a door-to-door sale or booth sale with a digital device,
or send an email invitation to visit her Digital Cookie website or stop by her
local cookie booth.
Shipping
rates are optimal for folks who buy the maximum amount of cookies available for
a set rate. Ordering one box online is possible, but the best value is to order
a minimum of 6.
All
shipping costs associated with Digital Cookie are in line with industry
standards set by many reputable delivery services. The cost associated is
comparable to what a customer would pay when buying Girl Scout Cookies at a
booth sale and shipping the cookies themselves.
We
don’t make any money from shipping and handling charges through Digital Cookie
or booth sales. GSUSA has worked closely with our councils to ensure all cookie
revenue—every penny after paying the bakers—stays with the local Girl Scouts
and their council, and is reinvested into programming and activities that
benefit girls.
In
fact, Digital Cookie has been set up so that shipping and handling fees, often
absorbed by corporations, do not burden Girl Scouts or their local councils and
are paid directly to the vendor.
What
are the shipping charges?
Nationally,
customers will pay tiered flat-rate shipping and handling costs for orders
between 6 and 12 packages. Customers who would prefer to avoid shipping charges
and still support local Girl Scouts can always visit www.girlscoutcookies.org and use the
council finder to learn more about potential local booth sales.
How
safe is Digital Cookie?
Digital
Cookie emphasizes the safety of both girls and customers. Girls and their
parents/caregivers take an Internet safety pledge before using the web-based
platform, and parents/caregivers must approve all updates and changes girls
make when customizing their Digital Cookie site. Girls using the mobile
platform will adhere to the same safety standards as those participating in
traditional Girl Scout Cookie sales.
As
a customer, your personal information will not be shared outside of the Girl
Scout organization.
Both
Digital Cookie systems are fully Payment Card Industry compliant and consumers
can feel absolutely confident that their financial information is not stored.
Both the online and mobile platforms of Digital Cookie transmit financial data
to the respective credit card processors and "scrub" credit card and
other identifiable information from the systems.
Digital Cookie is not available where I
live. What’s up with that?
The majority of Girl Scout councils nationwide are participating
in Digital Cookie during the 2014–2015 cookie season. While it did not make
sense for some councils to opt-in this year, many additional councils are
expected to be on board by the end of 2015, using an updated "version
2.0."
The launch of Digital Cookie represents an initial phase that will
progress over time. Future versions of Digital Cookie will see improved user
experiences for girls and customers alike and a more robust customer interface.