Expect the Croisette to be littered with shopping carts.

Retailers and their ad networks, some of which have recently overhauled their offerings, will have an outsize presence at this year’s Cannes Lions, which kicks off June 17. Executives from Target and Walmart are returning to the festival this year, while Kroger is sending executives to the festival for the first time. Each retailer will host meetings and pitch their ad offerings at the annual industry ballyhoo.

“We can’t be on the sidelines,” Cara Pratt, SVP, Kroger Precision Marketing, told Marketing Brew via email. “Retail sales is the ultimate proof of advertising effectiveness, so we have a responsibility to be at Cannes.”

Retailers’ increased presence at Cannes comes as their online businesses continue to intersect with the marketing world. In recent years, retailers have hit oil with retail media networks that provide customer shopping data to the ad industry and allow advertisers to target shoppers with ads on retail e-commerce sites. Because they process the payments, retailers can, in theory, tell advertisers whether consumers who see their ads are buying their products.

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