I would agree that most people who buy SBI! end up creating an informational website. That's now to say you cannot create a hard goods site and succeed. If you go to
http://hardgoods.sitesell.com/ you'll see some sample sites of people who have created hard good sites.
Of course SBI! is not the only way but it's the only system that I know that actually educates you on the entire CTPM (Content-Traffic-Presell-Monetization) process instead of just selling you a glamorized e-store for a monthly fee and then leaving you on your own to figure out how to get traffic and make money.
I must say, selling hard goods online is very foreign to me. I have been in the affiliate marketing / information site bubble for 10 years so I don't know much about other ecommerce systems. Maybe someone else can share their experience with other systems.