Girl Scouts of America, the makers of Thin Mints, Samoas, and other American favorites, are about to bring their popular cookies online.
The venerable youth organization for girls has announced that cookie sales will expand beyond paper forms, door-to-door sales, and sidewalk tables.
Scouts can download and customize their own "Digital Cookie" account to generate online sales. It offers a way for scouts to sell and ship the boxed cookies to friends and family members across the country.
The Girl Scouts had long resisted Internet sales in favor of face-to-face selling to promote leadership and entrepreneurial skills, while also raising nearly $800 million annually.
"Girls across the country now can use modern tools to expand the size and scope of their cookie business, and learn vital entrepreneurial lessons in online marketing, application use and e-commerce,"
Sarah Angel-Johnson, who runs the digital cookie initiative, told The New York Times.
Each scout can create a personal cookie destination online, but customers can only access it via an emailed invitation. A mobile app that includes credit card processing and direct shipping is also available.
A limited number of cities are participating in the mid-December launch; it will go national in January.