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From what I have seen, the most successful on line retailers have, besides a big budget, real world advertising and marketing experience, and education.

Yes, the internet is accessable to everyone, and it is easy for anybody to get a site up, and sign up with an affiliate program, but the same rules of marketing and advertising apply, just as in the "Physical" world.

The days of just having a site and getting guaranteed traffic, are over. Now you have to work for it just like opening a new brick and mortor store.

One of the best marketers of all times, in my opinion, is Ron Popiel.
In the beginning , He advertised on a cheaper time slot, (late night T.V.)
No other advertiser thought late night was worth anything because the audience was so small, but he had the brains to figure out, "who ever was watching... will be watching me".
He made the commercials entertaining (because there was no late night entertainment), and informative (infomercials), and sold his ass off.

The same rules apply with the net. Find your target audience, no matter how small and capitolize on that. Content is king: give the buyers enough info. to not only get them interested, but to keep them satisfied, and if possible entertained, and they will buy.

I always ask new clients: "Without using your website to refer to, sell me your product, right now." A lot of them are at a loss for words.
My point being, if you cannot accomplish that simple task, to sell your product to me verbally, how do you expect to convey any credibility on your website with words?

If you have 5 potential buyers in a room, and you can't convert one of them, all the traffic in the world will not help you. You are really just relying on hope: throw enough people in the bowl and eventually someone will buy.

Everything works together, Product, Content, Presentation, Education, and Marketing. If you get those down, then you have a 50/50 shot.