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New York (CNN) for decades, Girl Scouts have used cookie sales to raise money and teach Scouts about entrepreneurship. This year, thanks to the Raspberry Rally Cookies, members learned a painful lesson about what can happen when demand is high and supply is limited.
A raspberry-flavored spin on thin mint, the craze rally was always thought to be a limited-edition cookie. is. Perhaps it was due to the new online-only ordering system.
Demand skyrocketed, and some cookies ended up on eBay, in some cases listed for around $40 a box, but supplies were cut short as cookie makers were unable to quickly ramp up the rally. remained the same. One of Scout’s manufacturers, he said, is ABC Bakers, which requires a lot of lead time to make limited-edition cookies. Already he said one Little Brownie Bakers said bad weather caused power outages at its Kentucky factory and other inventory issues that squeezed supplies.
As a result, the rally sold out quickly, forcing scouts and parents to explain the situation to bemused shoppers.
For young Scouts, having to tell customers that there are no rallies available is “a particularly frustrating deal,” Scout’s parent Betsy Everett told CNN. When we ask, we tell them the situation, but they don’t want to buy anything, which is disappointing for the girls.”
Some parents are worried not only about lack of supplies, Fragmented communication from Girl Scouts USA. And after years of his Covid-related turmoil, their own patience is waning.
“Right now, all Girl Scouts are focused on a successful cookie season,” Girl Scouts USA told CNN in a statement, adding, “We are also focused on optimizing our operations in real time.” rice field. [capturing] It’s a useful learning for the strategy for the upcoming season. ”
But for Scouts, these learnings are hard-won.
what went wrong
Terry Esper, an associate professor of logistics at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, said it may have been particularly difficult to predict demand for the rally because the Girl Scouts introduced an entirely new way of buying.
Unlike other cookies, Raspberry Rally was only offered online and the goods were sent directly to the customer. This meant shoppers could order for themselves, but Girl Her Scouts encouraged Scouts to ask for orders. Girl Scouts have been relatively slow to transition to online sales, but when they introduced Larry’s, they said the sales channel would help Scouts learn about e-commerce. is not expected.
“Anytime we introduce a new way to buy a product or a new channel to gain access…it opens up a new [consumer] behavior,” Esper explained.
The ease of ordering online may have attracted more customers. Additionally, Esper noted that Girl Scouts created a lot of hype with their limited-time offers, creating a sense of urgency.
But as customers clamored for cookies, Scouts and their parents knew there was no chance of increasing supplies before the end of cookie season in April.
ABC has implemented a “seasonal plan communicated to the council in June 2022” regarding the rally, said a February 16 FAQ on the Girl Scouts Iowa site. According to the FAQ, “We are unable to produce any more at this time as we do not have our own materials and packaging. The lead time is too long to produce in time for the rest of this season.”
In March, Little Brownie Bakers reported to their local chapter about the multifaceted problems they were facing.
A spokesperson for Little Brownie Bakers told CNN, “We share frustration with how some Girl Scout units are feeling this cookie season.” , global supply chain issues … continue to affect production.” Problems with LBB also limited supplies of other cookies.
need better communication
Scout parents in charge of cookie orders are left to deal with the fallout, in addition to their usual job of helping the Scouts through the cookie sales season, which runs roughly from January to April.
Scout parent Everett orders cookies for three armies in Southeast Michigan. She eventually got a few cases of Raspberry Larry, but not the other families in her unit.
“Out of our 30 scouts [across the troops]About three of them were able to order cookies before they ran out,” she said.
This is yet another upset for Everett, who said some of her first cookie orders went unfilled last year.
Chad Husett, whose two daughters are scouts in the Minneapolis area, saw a barrage of questions at a recent cookie sales event about the rally his daughters couldn’t attend.
Earlier in the season, when his wife placed an order for Larry, it was quickly canceled. Wisconsin Girl Another of his FAQ pages for raspberries, posted on his scout page, explains that “ABC’s sales platform did not immediately cut off access to customers who placed orders.” increase. [Rallies]… Due to the passage of time, they were selling cookies that were not available. ”
Huset’s wife received a similar explanation following a series of email cancellations. ABC referred Girl Scouts USA to her CNN request for comment for this article.
Huset believes the Girl Scouts should have clarified the situation sooner to give the troops time to turn around.
“It’s all about telling what’s going on, not after the fact,” said Husett.
“Girls learn from it”
However, some within the Scouting community have found a ray of hope.
Scout parent and co-leader of a Girl Scout troop outside Seattle, Deb Perry, didn’t even try to order a raspberry rally. I have heard many reports of shortages.
“We didn’t push it or encourage it in our military,” she said. “We just encourage people to sell what they have on hand.”
Perry saw the situation as an opportunity to teach the Scouts how to adapt and accept challenges. Her daughter’s troop scouts have been encouraging shoppers looking for Larry to try the Adventureful, introduced last year, instead.
“When things don’t go as planned, or when people say no,” she said. “Girls learn from it.”
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