Smarter Retail Campaigns Start With Connecting Ad Campaigns Directly to Inventory

Retailers are burning millions of advertising dollars every year promoting ads that can’t possibly convert. That’s because the products they’re promoting are already sold out. Recent data from ShoppingIQ found that between 5 percent and 12 percent of retail media budgets are being wasted on ads for products that are out of stock. During peak sales moments like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, these percentages spike even higher, as cost-per-clicks rise and inventory turnover is rapid.

Every marketer knows how painful wasted ad spend is, especially when dollars funnel inefficiently into campaigns that can’t drive revenue. It not only creates a hole in performance, but retailers also miss opportunities to push items that are flying under the radar.

This Black Friday, the winners won’t simply be the brands offering the steepest discounts. They’ll be the ones whose marketing efforts talk to their inventory in real time.

Why MCP is Retail’s Answer to Wasted Ad Spend

So, how do retailers close this gap between their ad campaigns and inventory? Model context protocol (MCP). While it sounds technical, it’s like a USB-C for marketing platforms. MCP allows brands to connect their artificial intelligence assistants to the business systems that matter the most, whether that’s a CRM, ad platforms, loyalty programs or, most critically, inventory.

For retail marketers, this changes the game. MCP empowers AI assistants to instantly read live inventory data so it has the full picture of what’s in stock, what’s trending, or what’s sitting idle — all before a single ad ever goes live.

Think of it as giving your marketing brain a direct line to your store shelves. During high-stakes shopping periods like Black Friday, when timing is of the essence and margins are razor-thin, brands have no room for error. MCP ensures campaigns are always aligned with shoppable reality, turning inventory awareness into a competitive advantage.

Here’s how:

1. Make every campaign match your shelves.

Traditional inventory management tools don’t inform your ad strategy, and your AI assistant isn’t pulling from your inventory either. With MCP, that gap disappears. Instead of relying on copy-pasting your inventory data into prompts for your ads, your AI already knows what’s available, what’s popular, and what’s in a shopper's cart.

By having context into what’s available, AI agents can:

• Align ad spend with supply levels to move more inventory.
• Search your product catalog in real time.
• Answer customer questions about additional colors, sizes or availability.
• Manage carts and make purchase suggestions based on live store data.

You're no longer guessing what products to promote. MCP enables you to raise bids and pull ads the moment supply runs out. It optimizes for profit by factoring in product margins, providing the answers you need right in front of you.

2. Stop wasting spend the second it happens.

Rather than waiting for campaign reports to reveal you spend ad budget on unavailable products, inventory-connected AI assistants monitor stock levels in real time and adjust campaigns automatically.

With this context, AI can:

• Automatically halt campaigns the moment an item sells out.
• Redirect budgets to ads for in-stock best-sellers.
• Optimize promotions based on both demand and availability.

Instead of reacting after the fact, retailers gain proactive control, ensuring every campaign dollar is tied to actual shoppable results.

3. Predictive intelligence matches supply with demand.

Finally, MCP goes beyond campaign optimization and into customer intelligence. With inventory insights layered into historical sales and customer behavior, AI can anticipate what shoppers are likely to buy next based on current availability.

This makes it possible to:

• Flag when popular items are close to selling out.
• Recommend alternatives when a favorite item isn’t available.
• Personalize promotions around what’s in stock and relevant.

By weaving together customer behavior and inventory context, campaigns don’t just avoid wasted spend. They unlock predictive intelligence that reliably converts interest into purchases.

Why Inventory Context is Retail’s Secret Weapon

You have to remember that AI assistants can only optimize what they can see. Without inventory context, they’re running blind and pushing ads for sold-out products, missing the real opportunity to spotlight what’s ready to ship.

MCP puts a stop to this. By grounding AI in real-time inventory data, retailers eliminate wasted spend and keep shoppers happy.

The bottom line: Every retail campaign should be a chance for a sale.

Jason Widup is the senior vice president of marketing at Pixis, a well-funded AI startup in the adtech space, leading global strategy across growth, product marketing, operations, and experiences.