Availability differs as much as price
Products listed in one market are absent in another, and stock status is frequently regional. A catalogue pulled from the wrong country is not a slightly inaccurate dataset; it is a different dataset.
Language and promotion targeting follow the IP
Many sites choose language and campaign content from the connecting address before any cookie exists. For competitive research, the promotion a market is being shown is often the finding.
Breadth over volume
Research usually means a moderate amount of data from many places, rather than a lot from one. Metered plans suit that shape, buy bandwidth, spend it across as many countries as the study needs, and what is unused stays on the account.
What to buy
Residential per gigabyte with country targeting. Metered bandwidth does not expire, which fits research work that runs in bursts.
Common questions
What can I actually collect this way?
Anything a member of the public can see without signing in, gathered from the places your customers are. That covers public listings, public pricing, availability, and how a service presents itself in a market you do not operate in. It does not cover anything behind a login or anything personal, and those limits are legal rather than technical.
Is datacenter good enough for research?
Often yes, and it is the cheaper place to start. Public marketing pages, catalogues and listings are meant to be read and rarely discriminate by address type. Reach for residential only where a specific source turns out to filter you, which you will discover quickly.
How many countries can I research from?
The residential pool here covers 130 countries, which is more than most research programmes need. Worth knowing that coverage is not uniform. Some countries have far more addresses available than others, so a plan that assumes equal depth everywhere will hit thin markets first.