I feel its important to tone down the euphoria around the web. There are a number of initial success stories, but many more flops.
Some stories also start out sounding successful, only to have mixed results later on.
A good example is the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. But then interest dropped off. The firm got a lot of early mover press, but then had difficulty staying in the public eye. The challenge for web-based stores is to continue to push this curve upward, so that interest in a firm's site expands as the web expands. Web firms have to keep awareness high.