It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and this article is not talking about the holidays. Girl Scout cookie season is almost upon us, and yesterday the Girl Scouts of the USA unveiled Digital Cookie, an online component to the renowned Girl Scout Cookie Program.

Girl Scout cookie sales will now also take place online. (Photo provided)

According to Connie Frederick, the product manager for the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana, the new website isn’t designed to enhance sales so much as give family and friends that live far away the opportunity to support the girls.

She explained that shipping costs will decrease when purchased online as cookies will be shipped directly from a distribution center: “My parents live in Nebraska, so when my little girl was selling cookies we had to ship them, which most of the time ended up not being worth it because we ended up spending more on shipping costs than on the actual cookies.” She stated that the new system will be similar to Amazon in the network of distribution centers, but that the girls will still have an individual supply to sell locally.

Frederick also noted that another goal of the new site is for the members of the Girl Scouts to enhance their abilities when it comes to technology, and stated: “We are anticipating for the girls to use this and sharpen their online skills as they reach out to family and friends who do not live nearby in an effort to make sales. It will not replace door to door sales but it will simply improve their skills.”

The standard eight variations will be sold, along with a limited amount of a new gluten free cookie called Trios. The Trios will be a chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal cookie that will cost $1 more per box than the other types. Of the new cookie Frederick noted that, “This is just a test to see how they sell to see if sometime in the near future it will be put into the lineup. There is only a limited supply of them, so they not be available throughout the entire sale period.”

The 8,000 members of the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana sold 1,128,000 boxes last year, and are hoping to improve on that number this year. For those in the area looking to buy cookies but are not sure where they can do so, click here to access the official Girl Scout cookie finder.