The cost of setting and running an e-commerce operation is considerable - both in cash and resources; in the region of £15,000-20,000 + the ongoing costs of maintaining an accurate up to date product database. Margins for on-line retail sales are much slimmer as the market is very price sensitive. If you cannot offer comparable prices to Chemist Direct, Pharmacy2u, Oneclick, Express Chemist, Tesco, Superdrug, Asda etc you will not sell very much. Given the margins, you would have to be generating volumes of £15-25k per month to pay back the cost of investment alongside running costs within the first couple of years. To achieve that sort of tunrover, you will probably have to invest in internet marketing which will add further cost, pushing your breakeven point even further. It will be much more profitable for you to concentrate on marketing to your own existing customers initially and in your local area. We will also be offering internet marketing servcies you would not normally be able to access without committing to budgets in excess of £100k per year for those of you that want to invest in your e-commerce. When you have built up a good customer base and know the repeat purchase rate and annual value of a repeat customer, then you can make a much better informed economic decision on whether it is worth setting up your own e-commerce operation.