It was big news when Walmart Inc. agreed to buy most of Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce company. Another online shopping king made a couple of moves that showed the importance of trying and buying in the real world. First, Amazon.com Inc. said last week that it had started to open “experience centers” in model homes to give people a taste ...

Walmart Inc. might want to portray its $16 billion purchase of India’s largest e-commerce firm, Flipkart Group, as a brilliant strategic move, long-planned in secret, that would allow the US retail giant to manage the transition away from big-box stores globally. Yet, the truth is that the deal represents a second-best outcome — if that — for Walmart as well ...

Many companies would shy from being lumped alongside indebted Chinese investment groups such as Fosun International Ltd. and HNA Group Co. It’s a comparison that Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. should welcome. Masayoshi Son’s company is trying to shed its image as a telecom operator. SoftBank’s US carrier Sprint Corp. has agreed to merge with competitor T-Mobile US Inc., leaving the ...