U Europskoj uniji tržištem hranom dominiraju veliki trgovački lanci, a posljednjih nekoliko godina taj trend primjetan je i u Bosni i Hercegovini. Iako su zakoni o zabrani monopola na snazi, još uvijek nema mehanizama koji mogu kontrolirati moć velikih trgovačkih lanaca. Prema istraživanju britanske Komisije za konkurenciju, svaki trgovački lanac koji ima više od osam posto udjela na tržištu hranom ima i dovoljno moći da negativno utječe na konkurentnost na tržištu te samim time i na plasman hrane.Kupovne navike potrošača jedan su od ključnih čimbenika koji utječu na sliku maloprodajnog tržišta kako na lokalnom tako i na globalnom nivou. Iako su suvremeni potrošači suvereni, itekako se može na njih marketinški utjecati. Marketari mogu utjecati na njihovo ponašanje tako što će elemente marketinškog spleta prilagoditi potrošačevim potrebama. Uspjeh se postiže ako potrebe postoje ili su latentne i proizvođač ih potakne proizvodom koji potrošači svjesno ili podsvjesno trebaju. Ponašanje potrošača je pod utjecajem brojnih čimbenika koji su međusobno povezani, a mogu se svrstati u tri skupine: osobni čimbenici, društveni čimbenici i psihološki čimbenici. Stoga, glavni cilj ovog rada je ispitati preferencije potrošača u odabiru trgovačkih lanaca na području grada Mostara. Kroz anketiranje koje će biti provedeno s potrošačima na području grada Mostara, uz njihove preferencije u odabiru trgovačkih lanaca, ispitat će se i glavne odrednice koje utječu na potrošačev odabir.Ovim radom je prezentirano primarno istraživanje koje upućuje da se razlikuju preferencije potrošača kad abiraju trgovački centar te da najrađe posjećuju najbliži trgovački centar.; Food market across European Union is dominated by chain stores and recently this trend can also be noticed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite existance of competition laws we are yet to figure out how to control power of big chain stores. According to research of British Competition Comission, any chain store which has more than eight per cent of the share on the food market also has enough power to have negative influence on market competition. Buying habits of consumers are one of the most important factors which can determine the image of chain store, both locally and globally. Undeterred by sovereign nature of modern consumers, marketers can still easily influence consumers’ behaviour. Marketers can influence consumers’ behaviour by adjusting elements of marketing mix to the counsumers’ needs. The success comes if there are needs or those needs are latent while manufacturer induces them product whom consumers need, whether consciously or subconsciously. Consumer behaviour is influenced by several correlated factors: personal, social and psychological. There fore, the aim of this research is to deteremine consumers’ preferences in choosing Mostar-based chain stores. This research is based on surveys which took place among people of Mostar and through the same survey, alongside consumers’ preferences in their choice of chain stores based in Mostar, we’ll try to find out key determinants which influence upon those decisions. Through this primary research we can notice that different factors influence different consumers in their choice of chain stores whereas the most important factor seems to be ‘close proximity to home’. Significance of this research is double-natured as it can serve to both marketers and managers in companies and chain stores that operate on high competition markets in order to stimulate consumers to buy more and thereby to raise sale and competitiveness.