Zalando continues to push its Connected Retail program and has signed its first partnership with a mall specialist. The mail-order company has signed an agreement with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (“URW”), which is Europe’s biggest mall owner after its acquisition of Westfield around three years ago.

Europe’s biggest commercial property company is to buy Westfield, the Australian company behind the UK’s two highest-earning shopping centres, in a $25 billion deal that will create the world’s largest mall operator. French Unibail-Rodamco  plans to roll out Westfield centres in Europe and the US. The planned tie-up comes as the growing number of people buying items online, fuelled by Amazon, forces shopping centre operators to focus on their best assets.