Yeah if you think the stores didn't use the general price hike and took advantage of it you our pretty gullible.
According to the ECB itself it was the corporates who were the main driver & cause: theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/27/corporate-profits-driving-up-prices-ecb-president-christine-lagarde
Yeah if its more then the inflation itself and you are doing it under the guise of inflation it's manipulative. Lots of products jumped 50% in grocery stores here, main argument was gas prices, then gas prices went down, still prices went up. And record profits as well.
I think that companies are always trying to make the most profit per unit sold. Inflation may have provided a stimulus that led to the companies being able to increase their prices, even beyond the increase in costs, but the inflation had to already be there for this to happen. I don't think it's really abuse; they are free to charge whatever they want.
According to the ECB itself it was the corporates who were the main driver & cause: theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/27/corporate-profits-driving-up-prices-ecb-president-christine-lagarde