She's holding a Girl Scout Cookie.

她拿著一塊女童軍餅乾。

And this is Tula in 2023.

而這是 2023 年的 Tula。

She's 11, and has been a Girl Scout for six years.

她 11 歲，已經加入女童軍六年了。

I wouldn't say it's well-managed, but it's so enthusiastically managed that you almost end up rooting for them.

我不會說女童軍管理得很好，但是他們的管理方式熱情洋溢，你會想支持他們。

Their success is due to a number of factors.

他們的成功歸因於多種因素。

Nostalgia, yes, but also smart sales tactics, strategic expansions, and unlimited supply.

當然有懷舊情懷，但還有聰明的銷售策略、戰略性擴張和供應充足。

This year, they introduced a new flavor, the Raspberry Rally, to be sold only online.

今年，他們推出了覆盆子餅乾這種新口味，只在網路上銷售。

Within hours, it was gone; there was no stock left.

它在幾個小時內就售罄，沒有存貨。

This is The Economics of Girl Scout Cookies.

今天節目內容是《女童軍餅乾的經濟學》。

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Girl Scouts tried to adapt their in-person tactics to the online world with middling success.

在新冠肺炎疫情期間，女童軍試圖將其面對面的策略轉變到到網絡世界，但成效一般。

2021 saw the biggest impact in terms of Girl Scout Cookies sales because all these troops were having to balance social distancing with selling their cookies.

2021 年對女童軍餅乾的銷售量影響最大，因為這些童軍都必須在社交距離和銷售餅乾之間找到平衡點。

This year, Girl Scouts have resumed in-person and booth sales, but the COVID era trend of digital sales has remained popular.

今年，女童軍恢復了面對面和擺攤銷售，但新冠時代的網路銷售趨勢仍然很受歡迎。

I think the girls are mostly unfazed because they are quite nimble with working online.

我認為女孩們大多不會受到影響，因為她們在網路上非常活躍。

Typically, cookie-selling season runs from December to mid-April.

通常，餅乾銷售季節從 12 月到 4 月中旬。

But a shortage this year has forced some regions like New York City to sell cookies later into the year so that the suppliers have time to bake more cookies.

但今年短缺的情況迫使像紐約市這樣的地區延後開賣餅乾，以便供應商有時間烤更多的餅乾。

Even with adapted sales schedules, Girl Scout Cookie customers may still be out of luck for certain flavors.

即使調整了銷售時程，女童軍餅乾的客戶仍然可能無法取得特定口味的餅乾。

This year's new flavor, the Raspberry Rally, sold out in hours, but that very limited supply could actually benefit the Girl Scouts.

今年的新口味覆盆子幾個小時內就銷售一空，但是這種非常有限的供應量其實可以讓女童軍受益。

Because cookies are typically sold four months out of the year, customers have to get them while they're in season or risk waiting another year.

因為餅乾通常在一年中只賣四個月，所以顧客必須在販售季節內購買，否則就得等到下一年。

The strategy, I think, works really well because you keep people's interest in the cookies by introducing new flavors.

我想這個策略非常成功，因為透過推出新口味，可以讓人們對這些餅乾保持新鮮感。

New flavors can be modeled off of best selling ones.

新口味可能是模仿熱銷口味設計的。

It just triggers a whole bunch of other memories associated with other Girl Scout Cookies.

這會觸發與其他女童軍餅乾相關的許多其它記憶而已。

You bank on the advantage that you're giving people something new,

女童軍餅乾的優勢在於給人們帶來新的東西，

but that's also sort of associated with something that you're familiar with, whether it's a cookie or a childhood memory.

但這也與他們熟悉的東西有所聯繫，不論是一個餅乾還是一個童年回憶。

Certain cookies that don't sell well are phased out, but the organization makes sure to keep longstanding classics,

某些餅乾如果銷售不佳就會被逐步淘汰，但他們會保留長久以來存在的經典產品，

like Trefoils and Thin Mints, which have been around in some form since at least the 1950s.

例如 Trefoils 和 Thin Mints，這些產品自至少從 1950 年代就存在了。

It's a classic marketing strategy.

這是一個經典的銷售策略。

You can have, like, say, for example, a mascara or a lipstick that's a classic color, and something that you see constant demand for.

例如一些睫毛膏或經典的唇膏顏色，這些是一直有穩定需求的產品。

To keep a classic like the Thin Mints around is to center the campaign of selling cookies around something that people instantly recognize.

讓像 Thin Mints 這樣的經典口味繼續存在，就是讓銷售餅乾的活動圍繞著人們一眼就能認出的東西。

Girl Scouts list five skills troops learn from selling cookies.

女童軍列出了他們通過賣餅乾學習的五項技能。

Goal-setting, decision-making, money management, people skills, and business ethics.

目標設定、決策制定、財務管理、社交技能和商業道德。

The way that the cookie program works is that you set a goal.

女同童軍售餅乾的運作方式是你要設定一個目標。

It helps that those goals are incentivized.

設立目標的好處是有獎勵激勵的。

If you sell enough, you can get prizes.

如果你賣得夠多，就可以得到獎品。

I'm trying to sell 2,500 cookies because if you do that, you get a Broadway show as the prize,

我想要賣出 2500 個餅乾，因為如果達成了這個目標，就能得到一張百老匯音樂劇的門票當獎勵，

and that sounds really fun and I love musicals, so I definitely wanna go to one.

聽起來非常有趣，而且我喜歡音樂劇，所以我很想去看。

Next is decision-making.

接下來是決策。

A Girl Scout must choose where and when to sell her cookies, how to market them, and help decide where her troop's collective cookie fund should go.

一個女童軍必須選擇在何時何地銷售她的餅乾、如何行銷，並協助決定她們的團隊資金應該用於何處。

The key player in figuring out the distribution of these cookies?

弄清楚這些餅乾的銷售分佈的關鍵人物呢？

The parent.

家長。

A lot of the parents are often troop leaders, especially the moms, or they participate in other parts of the program, like being a co-cookie chair.

很多的家長通常是童軍團的領袖，尤其是媽媽們，或者參與其他的計畫，例如擔任共同餅乾負責人。

They take upon themselves a lot of the logistics and the planning and where their children will be at any given time to sell these cookies.

他們自願承擔了很多的後勤工作和計畫，包括規劃在何時何地售賣這些餅乾，以及他們的孩子在何時何地參與販賣。

Usually, the troop or a Girl Scout's parents purchase the cookies before any sales are made.

通常在販賣之前，童軍團或女童軍的家長會先購買餅乾。

So, they're on the hook to make up the money that they have already spent in buying or procuring the boxes that they said that they were gonna sell.

所以他們必須要想辦法賣出足夠的餅乾來回收他們事先花費在購買或取得餅乾上的費用。

All sales proceeds, according to the Girl Scouts, go to the troops to pay for that year's upcoming activities.

根據女童軍的說法，所有的收益都會交給團隊，用於支付該年度即將舉行的活動費用。

Girl Scouts receive scripts and training to get to know the products.

女童軍會收到腳本和培訓來了解產品。

They also receive advice on their sales pitches.

他們也會接受關於銷售宣傳的建議。

The goal is to sharpen their people skills.

目的是為了提升她們的社交技巧。

It has definitely helped me talk to people and, like, communicate what I want.

這活動對於我與他人交談有很大的幫助，並能夠好好表達我想要的事情。

Typically, Girl Scouts sell cookies to their family and friends or customers in the neighborhood.

通常，女童軍將餅乾賣給家人和朋友，或是附近的顧客。

It's still very much a grassroots movement.

這還是非常親民的活動。

No one sees it as, you know, a big cookie.

沒有人覺得女童軍餅乾是什麼大品牌。

No one looks at it as this big corporate grab that you associate with some of the bigger brands.

沒有人將它看作是一個連聯想到大企業的掠奪行為。

This is as homegrown as it comes.

這個計畫完全是源自於社區基層的發展。

Even with the parents behind the major operations, the selling point is still the Girl Scouts themselves.

即使父母參與了主要的運營工作，但女童軍本身仍然是主要的銷售點。

Don't buy cookies from an alligator; don't buy cookies from a giraffe.

不要跟鱷魚買餅乾。不要跟長頸鹿買餅乾。

Buy cookies from Girl Scouts, because they're really good.

要跟女童軍買餅乾，因為那餅乾非常好吃。

There is some criticism regarding the fact that, if you're a rich parent, you can just throw money at the problem⏤buy up all the boxes, you know, done.

有些人批評，如果你是一個富有的家長，你可以把錢花餅乾上，買下所有的餅乾，問題就解決了。

The program's done, you've made the money; everything's hunky dory.

銷售活動完成，錢也賺到了。一切都很棒。

But that defeats the purpose, as many parents have told me,

但這違背了許多家長告訴我讓小孩參加這活動的目的，

of teaching their children financial literacy and having them go through the process of learning procurement,

也就是教育孩子理財，讓他們經歷學習採購的過程，

learning distribution, learning sales, and then learning to manage money, actual physical money.

學會分銷、銷售，然後學習管理真實的金錢。

You can see them physically, you know, doing the math in their head, calculating what they've gotta give back to a customer.

你可以看到他們在腦海裡算數學，計算他們必須找給客戶的金額。

And I think if a parent just swoops in and buys all the boxes or buys too many boxes, it defeats the purpose of what the program stands for.

我認為如果父母一味地購買所有的餅乾甚至購買太多，會違背該活動的宗旨。

And learning effective sales tactics, like offering samples of the underselling types of cookies

學習有效的銷售策略，比如提供未銷售的餅乾樣品

or encouraging customers to buy more than one box of their favorites helps the next year run smoothly.

或鼓勵客戶購買多盒自己喜歡的餅乾，有助於下一年的銷售順利進行。

I think the Girl Scout Cookies inhabit a very unique ecosystem when it comes to selling cookies compared to your everyday brands that you're familiar with,

我認為，女童軍餅乾在銷售方面擁有非常獨特的生態系統，與熟悉的日常品牌相比，

whether they're Oreos or any kind of digestive biscuits or whatever cookies that people prefer.

不論是 Oreo 餅乾或任何大眾喜歡的餅乾。

Their main draw is that they are available for a very short period of time every year,

它們的主要吸引力在於每年只有短短的時間可以購買，

and you also bank on people's memories of eating these cookies as they were growing up.

而且你也可以依靠人們童年時吃這些餅乾的記憶來吸引顧客。

Come out.

出來吧。