Sources & References
⚠️Read this before trusting any number in the vault.
Pakistan-specific data for the period-underwear category is scarce (it's nascent). Many figures here are modeled estimates or directional knowledge, flagged 🟢/🟡/🔴 by confidence. Verify the load-bearing numbers with live research before committing capital.
What needs primary verification (do this in Week 1)
☑️To-do
- Search demand: Google Keyword Planner (PK geo) + GSC for all Keyword-Research terms
- Local competitors & prices: live Daraz / Google / Instagram scan (Pakistan-Local-Competitors)
- Pad price benchmark: actual retail price of Always/Butterfly per month (Pricing-Strategy)
- FX rate: current USD/PKR (used $1≈Rs280 throughout)
- Import duty: current HS-code duty + sales tax for textile/apparel/hygiene imports (Sourcing-and-Import)
- Courier RTO + COD fees: quotes from PostEx/Leopards/TCS/Trax (Payments-and-COD)
- Sanitary-product penetration: latest MHM/UNICEF/PDHS figures (Pakistan-Menstrual-Care-Landscape)
Source types referenced (categories, verify specifics)
- US market: the user-provided category overview (US-Market-Reference) — industry/market-research summaries.
- Pakistan demographics: census/UN population data, PTA telecom/internet reports.
- Menstrual hygiene: UNICEF/WHO MHM reports, PDHS, NGO publications (HER Pakistan, etc.).
- E-commerce/COD: Pakistan e-commerce reports, courier (PostEx/Daraz) commentary.
- FMCG/pads: brand/retail observation (Always/P&G, Butterfly/Santex).
Confidence legend
- 🟢 Solid — widely reported, stable
- 🟡 Reasonable — informed estimate, verify
- 🔴 Guess — modeled assumption, must validate (these dominate TAM-SAM-SOM sensitivity)
Honesty principle
This vault deliberately flags uncertainty rather than fabricating precision. Where a precise stat is asserted without a flag, treat it as to-be-verified. The SEO-First-Validation-Plan exists precisely to replace assumptions with evidence — cheaply — before money is spent.