Social networks are gaining more and more importance due to the range of possibilities they offer, and thus they have been fully integrated into the everyday life of most people. Apart from connecting, viewing various content, following trends for individuals, they are becoming very useful and effective for businesses in all industries to connect with their target audience. One of the main advantages of these networks is the ability to reach a diverse and large audience very quickly. The most popular networks such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok have millions of users, making it easy to reach your target market. For this reason, a one-time descriptive survey was conducted on a convenient sample of 150 respondents. The research results showed that social networks have a positive effect on the promotion of retail chains in Croatia. Based on these results, previous research of a similar nature can be confirmed. Respondents generally use Instagram and Facebook the most and these two networks are where most respondents follow retail chains. Kaufland and Konzum have the largest social media following. Furthermore, respondents mostly have a positive opinion about marketing on social networks of retail chains, regardless of the social network through which they follow them. They also have a positive opinion about purchase decision, which they found easier to make because of social networks. According to the above, the conclusion of the paper is that social networks play an important role in the promotion of retail chains in Croatia.