The practice may cannibalize sales in some of its older stores, they say, but it succeeds in building a bigger overall share of markets the company already occupies.

FORBES: Wizardry At Wal-Mart

Elsewhere at CES Las Vegas, another Chinese company, HiSense, occupies the floor space previously home to Microsoft, which pulled out of this year's show.

BBC: CES 2013: Chinese enter Western mobile device market

One Friday afternoon, I drove to an industrial park on the outskirts of Boston, where a rapidly growing data-analysis company called Verisk Health occupies a floor of a nondescript office complex.

NEWYORKER: The Hot Spotters