Girl Scouts to accept credit cards
The Girl Scouts of the USA has been around for 103 years.
Now they are expanding into the high-tech world, and they have designed an app just for them to ring up customers from their phones. It’s called Digital Cookie 2.0.
The aim is to help people who don’t carry cash on them use their credit or debit cards to buy boxes of Girl Scout cookies.
Marissa Driscoll ,communications associate for Girl Scouts of the USA, said Digital Cookie 2.0 is not taking the place of door-to-door or booth sales, known as “traditional sales.”
“Digital Cookie is as an online extension of the Girl Scout Cookie program, allowing girls to invite customers to visit a personalized cookie website, or take in-person orders using a mobile app,” said Driscoll.
To be clear, girls who use the mobile app can do so at door-to-door and booth sales, merging digital with traditional.
So customers who don’t have cash on them can still make their cookie purchase.
“Digital sales- (are) so if you are somewhere where you don’t have cash on you and you want to buy some Girl Scout cookies because people can be in that pinch every now and then- and you don’t want to turn away those poor cute little girls- (you can) pull out your card. If they have a card reader, they can use the app to facilitate that sale,” said Lydia Wolfe, membership manager.
They are also going to sell their cookies online.
“We are bringing Girl Scouts into the 21st century and making it realistic of what entrepreneurs look like today with an online business with this online cookie sale,” said Wolfe.
According to The Associated Press, youth membership is just under 11.9 million, down 6 percent from 2014.
Adult membership was also down about 3 percent.
“Changing environment of who our volunteer base is, more people are working, so that means that sometimes less people have time to volunteer,” said Clint Kofoed, director of product program.
However, Driscoll said Girl Scouts’ rate of member retention increased, and their overall membership decline was less steep the 2014 membership year, which they attribute to tech innovations like Digital Cookie.
Wolfe also said pre-sales for the cookies start Jan. 15 and end March 13. Feb. 26 is when the girls will start selling around town.
