H&M names Yanira Ramirez as country sales manager for India

Ramirez, a qualified lawyer, joins as country head after leading Hennes & Maurtiz group's fashion brand ‘&Other Stories’ as its global sales manager.

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Ramirez will be based out of H&M India’s head office in New Delhi, the company said in a statement. According to her LinkedIn profile, Ramirez formally took over the role in January this year.

She has spent close to two decades working with the world’s top fashion retaile, starting out with H&M in the UK as an in-store sales adviser in 2005, moving on to become an area manager.

She was subsequently appointed country HR for H&M UK and Ireland, before joining the global sales and operations HR team in Sweden.

Ramirez takes over the business after H&M—that set up its first shop in India in 2015—is now 50 stores strong, apart from retailing through its own website as well as through marketplace Myntra.

Ramirez will now have to reach more shoppers in the country where the retailer competes with the Index’s Zara as well as Japan’s Uniqlo.

She takes over from Janne Einola, the retailer’s former India head, who stepped down last year to pursue opportunities outside of the company.

Hennes & Mauritz AB was founded in Sweden in 1947. In addition to H&M, the group’s fashion business includes brands such as COS, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories, H&M HOME and ARKET as well as Afound.

H&M group retails through 5,000 stores in 74 markets including franchise markets. Of these, it retails online in 52 markets.

In India, the retailer has done brisk business. For the year ended 30 November 2019, H&M posted a 43% jump in sales touching nearly Rs1,500 crore. However, the lockdown in 2020 impacted sales as prolonged store closures hit apparel sales.