Doug Mack

Knit hats, "ugly sweaters," NHL jerseys, women's apparel and Derek Jeter merchandise. Those best-selling items are leading the pack at Fanatics.com, the online sports retailer that expects to process 10 times normal volume — roughly 700,000 packages — on Cyber Monday. In addition to running Fanatics.com, the retailer also powers 300 websites for all the major U.S. sports leagues, as well as collegiate and other professional teams, and some retailers such as J.C. Penney. "Today will be the single biggest sales day in the history of our company," Fanatics CEO Doug Mack said. 

As part of the launch of her cookbook, "My Father's Daughter," actress and GOOP newsletter publisher Gwyneth Paltrow partnered with home decor flash-sales website One Kings Lane to curate a one-day sale. Prior to the sale, Paltrow hosted an A-list dinner party where she cooked recipes from her book for guests like actress Cameron Diaz and chef Mario Batali.

One King's Lane is becoming the latest e-commerce site to expand from its flash-sale roots. The furniture and home goods site plans to launch an eBay-like marketplace called Vintage and Market Finds. It will let third-party designers post antique and vintage products on the site, but unlike eBay, all the items will be at fixed prices and will be vetted by a One King's Lane team.

Flash-sale website One Kings Lane has raised $40 million from venture capital and private equity firms led by Tiger Global Management, the latest sign of growth for an online shopping genre that's upending traditional fashion and home retailers.

Last week's Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in San Diego had a wealth of vendors and speakers relevant to cross-channel retailers. Here are some of the event's key takeaways:

One subject kept coming up repeatedly at session after session and on the trade show floor: quick response (QR) codes, those relatively boring 2-D codes that are suddenly very sexy and popular in the retail space.