The Girls Scouts have been dragged online, like so many other businesses and institutions have been, surrendering to the overwhelming effects of the digital age. It is too early to tell, but the Girl Scout who goes door-to-door may be in the early phase of decline. The Girls Scouts have become like almost every other retailer.

In a relatively new program, the Girl Scouts have created the “Digital Cookie,” which is meant to improve the marketing skills of its members. However, the program is also a way for consumers to largely dodge the human factor of sales process. According to the organization, a Girl Scout can begin a sale, which then slips out of her hand. Once the process is initiated people can:

Pay by credit card.
Have your cookies shipped or delivered by a Girl Scout.
Share your cookie love by donating your order to your local Girl Scout council’s chosen charity!

A decade’s-old tradition has ended. The Girl Scouts even have an app.

The Digital Cookie is the distant cousin to retailers large and small. Even the largest retailers have conceded that bricks and mortar and real salespeople are inadequate. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has been among the catalysts, but it is not the only one. Stores are hard to support because of labor costs, rental expenses and the price of logistics that move inventory. As the Girls Scouts have acknowledged, salespeople cannot be everywhere all the time. Online sales are a means to overcome lack of ubiquity.

If the Digital Cookie marks the end of the era, it is also a way for a large nonprofit to keep donations at a high level. The Girl Scouts have to support 2.8 million members, and it can no longer do that with a Girl Scout canvasing her neighborhood as a means to make a sale.

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