FAO Schwarz; Walmart; J.Crew

International Growth: Toy retailer FAO Schwarz is building out its international strategy, with a rollout in China scheduled for later this year. The company is collaborating with China's largest toy distributor, Kidsland, to enter the market. As part of the partnership, there will be two FAO Schwartz stores, one in Beijing and one in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Kidsland will also launch "30 smaller FAO Schwarz specialty stores and shop-in-shops in 200 department stores" across China over the next five years. 

Mobile Sales: eMarketer estimates retail sales transacted via mobile devices in Japan will reach $42.03 billion in 2018, accounting for 42.0% of all retail ecommerce sales. By 2021, eMarketer expects mcommerce will account for nearly 46% of all retail ecommerce sales in the country.

Bigger Stake: Last month, Walmart was in talks to acquire a minority stake (anywhere from 15% to 20%) in India's homegrown ecommerce platform Flipkart. Reuters reports that the big-box giant is now reportedly in talks to buy more than 40%.  

J.Crew Nabs Starbucks: Adam Brotman, the Starbucks exec who oversaw the release of the coffee giant's popular mobile ordering app, is heading over to J.Crew, where he'll be president and chief experience officer. According to CNBC, Brotman will help J.Crew "establish customer relationships that leverage all of [its] channels."