International Strategy

Global retail giant Wal-Mart has registered a new company in India as it prepares to enter the country's lucrative multibrand retail market with a new partner. Wal-Mart and Bharti Enterprises decided to part ways in October last year, bringing an end to their six-year-long partnership. The retailer has registered a new company called Wal-Mart India Private Ltd in the country, according to the data available with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

With a global economy becoming more of a reality by the day, brands are setting their sights on expanding their operations beyond their borders to grow profitably. One such brand taking this approach is Claire's Stores, an apparel and accessories retailer for teen girls and young women. In a keynote session at the National Retail Federation's Big Show in New York City yesterday, Jim Fielding, CEO of Claire's Stores, discussed his brand's experiences going international, as well as some takeaway lessons for the retailers in attendance who may be following closely behind.

Japanese apparel retailer Fast Retailing remains deliberate in its approach to the growth of its Uniqlo brand in the U.S., with plans for five more stores by mid-year. There are currently 1,300 Uniqlo locations worldwide in 13 countries, but only 17 stores in the U.S. The five new stores the company is adding this spring and summer will be located in King of Prussia, Pa., Stamford, Conn., and Daly City, Concord, and Milpitas, Calif. The company's other existing stores are clustered in the Northeast and Northern California. 

Apparel makers including Gap, H&M and Inditex urged Cambodia's government, its garment industry and unions to hold talks after a strike over workers’ pay led to deadly clashes. The government, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia and labor unions should engage in negotiations and support a new wage-review mechanism to avoid future violence, the retailers said in an open letter yesterday. Adidas, Puma, Levi Strauss & Co., and Columbia Sportswear also signed the letter. At least three people were killed when police used live ammunition to crush a protest by striking garment workers in Phnom Penh, the Cambodia Daily reported. 

eBay CEO John Donahoe will have the president's ear, so to speak, when it comes to international trade issues. President Obama appointed eBay CEO John Donahoe to the President's Export Council. Donahoe previously served as a member of the White House Council for Community Solutions from 2010 to 2012. According to eBay's announcement of the appointment, Donahoe will advise the president on policies and programs that affect U.S. trade, including opportunities to expand cross-border trade opportunities for businesses that use eBay products and services. 

Following on the heels of Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl's, Staples, QVC and others, Suning Commerce Group, China's largest electronics retailer, last month opened a retail tech lab in Silicon Valley. Already among China's top three e-commerce players, Suning said its research center in Palo Alto, Calif., will be the first in a series of planned R&D centers in cities throughout the U.S., with others already set for New York and Seattle. The objective is to advance Suning's offline-to-online business model and bolster its back-office capabilities, which include big data, internet search, shopper analytics, cloud capabilities and internet banking.

Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company, broke its one-day sales record by more than 80 percent as it heads toward an initial public offering that may be valued higher than Facebook. Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba's two main platforms, topped 35 billion yuan ($5.75 billion) in the 24-hour period, surpassing last year's sales of 19.1 billion yuan, the company said on its official Twitter account. Yesterday was China's Singles' Day, a local twist on Valentine's Day, and e-commerce firms marked the occasion by flooding the internet with promotions, fueling demand on China's biggest online shopping day.

China's Singles Day is a strange little holiday created in the '90s by university students who thought the date 11/11 looked like four solitary stick figures. Somehow, it's evolved into the country's largest e-commerce shopping event, with Western brands eager to cash in. And for good reason: Last year's Nov. 11 was so big the transactions overloaded banks, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba logged $3 billion in sales — two times what U.S. retailers achieved on Cyber Monday. China's e-tailing fest exploded out of nowhere. Alibaba launched the holiday just five years ago with 27 brands.

Wal-Mart plans to open as many as 110 stores in China between 2014 and 2016, as well as several new Sam's Club locations there. The new stores will employ as many as 19,000 people. Wal-Mart also plans to open 30 stores and close 25 underperforming stores in China, where it currently operates 400 Wal-Mart locations and 10 Sam's Club locations, by year's end. The retailer also aims to remodel about 45 Chinese stores this year, 55 next year and 65 during the following year. 

Although deciding to go global can be quite a daunting commitment for a business, there really hasn't been a better time to benefit from international e-commerce than now. Recent research by Rakuten, LinkShare and Forrester Consulting shows that over the last 12 months, a staggering two-thirds (68 percent) of online shoppers bought something from outside their home country. Learning how to maximize this trend for customers buying from the comfort of their own sofa can result in a big return on investment. Here are a few simple tips on how to make jumping into the unknown a walk in the park: