The actual problem of marketing communications management of Ukrainian retailers from the point of view of the system approach is considered. It is shown that the specificity of these marketing communications is determined both by the goals they are aimed at, and by means of communication. The objectives of marketing communications are: formation of the brand image of retailer, attracting consumers to visit places of sale, incentive to make a purchase, promotion of consumer satisfaction and ensuring the consumer loyalty. The main types of marketing communications are advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, integrated marketing communications at places of sale and personal sales. Within each type, subspecies of traditional and electronic communications are singled out. A systemic approach to managing marketing communications in the modern conditions should be based on the principles of purposefulness, customer focus, specificity, integration, interactivity, individualization, optimality and social ethics. At the same time, the success of communications is determined primarily by the extent to which they are convenient and useful to consumers. To implement these principles, it is proposed to implement in the process of managing the marketing communications system of retail enterprises such specific functions as marketing researches of consumer attitudes towards communications, adjustment of communications based on research results and forecasting the communicative effects. Approbation of the proposed methodological approach is made using data of enterprises of retail trade networks, which carry out sales of household electrical goods, information and communication equipment. It has been established that trade networks are now more intensively using less important for consumers types of communications, and vice versa. Changing the structure of the marketing communications system taking into account the benefits of consumers will improve the indicators of the communicative effects of marketing communications; this will enhance the competitiveness and economic efficiency of retail businesses in Ukraine.