Drew Field
Direct Public Offerings
Case StudiesChinaberry, Inc. Logo

Chinaberry, Inc.

The 2001 prospectus for Chinaberry’s direct public offering led with: 


Chinaberry
, founded in 1982, offers books and other items to support families in raising their children with love, honesty, and joy to be reverent, loving caretakers of each other and the earth. Conscious parenting is one of life’s most important and challenging responsibilities. Our catalogs offer support and encouragement to parents on this path.

It then went on to say, under “Objectives”:


We want to be a business primarily owned by employees, customers, and other investors who support and share our values.

Chinaberry had developed its Internet marketing to a very effective level. We, in turn, had a lot of experience since advising on the first Internet direct public offering, opened in August 1995. This offering was designed primarily for the Internet.

Use of the Internet for share marketing made the state securities law compliance all the more critical. Unlike offerings announced in writings delivered through the mail, we needed to limit announcements, and access to the prospectus, to those states in which we had filed or were within exemption boundaries.

Electronic delivery of the Prospectus was accompanied by a share purchase order and a Frequently Asked Questions. The biggest challenge was to help customers see Chinaberry as an investment. The high respect and loyalty had come from the selection of products offered and the personal shopping service provided. A new perspective was needed for customers to consider buying shareownership.

Announcements of the offering were included in catalogs and product shipments, as well as specific written mail pieces and email messages.