High street retailers have been criticised for “shocking” mark-ups on hundreds of health and beauty products.

Retailers including Boots, Waitrose and Tesco stand accused of inflating prices of items such as aspirin, body lotion and pregnancy test kits, in some cases by more than 200 per cent.

A new web site, chemistdirect.co.uk, wants to highlight this by selling health and beauty products on its site with much smaller mark-ups, while still turning a profit. Chemist Direct founder Mitesh Soma said: “I find it shocking that consumers have for so long been subjected to such vast mark-ups on everyday items ranging from vitamins and health and beauty products to standard goods such as hairdryers.”

The e-tailer will sell 32 paracetamol capsules for 49p, compared with the£1.98 charged at Boots and£1.30 at Waitrose. However, visitors to the site will be charged 99p for deliveries under£45.