International Strategy

Wal-Mart said that profits jumped almost 4 percent last quarter, even as the retail chain's U.S. sales dipped for the eighth straight quarter.

Wal-Mart announced today that it's reached an agreement to acquire a minority stake in the holding company of Yihaodian, a fast-growing e-commerce company in China. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days.

Vente-privee.com, a French company that created the online private-sales model later adopted by sites like Rue La La and Gilt.com, is entering the U.S. through a joint venture with American Express.

Foxlink, a subsidiary of Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn, plans to build new stores in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea. The plans would double the number of Apple-exclusive Foxlink stores in Asia from 50 to 100. 

Groupon's latest battlefields are in the East, where it faces an uphill battle in China and is the underdog in Australia. Groupon's latest tactic to gain ground: acquire burgeoning deal site Crowdmass.

In an attempt to win exclusive rights to use its name in Canada, Target is asking a Canadian court to impose a preliminary injunction against Canadian retailer Isaac Benitah and his company, Fairweather, which owns 15 stores across Canada called Target Apparel and has a logo similar to that of Target.

Italian fashion house Prada said it will open stores across the Middle East as part of a joint venture with Emirates luxury retailer Al Tayer Insignia to develop a new retail network.

Columbia Sportswear said it would launch new e-commerce sites for its primary Columbia brand and the fast-growing Sorel boot brand to allow customers in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Spain to buy products online.

Gap said it's establishing an international division based in London to ramp up overseas growth. The company will open its first Old Navy stores abroad — in Japan — by 2012 and said it's set a goal for international and online sales to make up 30 percent of its total by 2013, up from 22 percent in 2010 and 14 percent in 2006.

Target is projecting sales from its upcoming Canadian stores to total more than $6 billion by 2017. The company expects to have more than 200 stores in Canada within the next five years to 10 years, with the stores generating about $6.27 billion in U.S. dollars.