I’m usually the technologically savvy one, but when a friend of mine asked me what web hosting company would be best for their business, I had no idea. I have tried searching online, but I have no idea what most of the technological terms mean (such as PERL, VPS, SSL). The HTML is doable at a lot of sites. But chances are you’ll need to get someone to do the programming to give you the specifics you need. The first thing your friend needs to do is find someone who knows about web hosting, website design and programming.
While it’s great that you’re trying to help him, believe me – you’re in over your head on this one. Don’t be silly. They do not need unlimited data/disk, nor are they going to find it from any reputable host. Figure out what amount they REASONABLY need and go from there. There is no such thing as unlimited disc space or data transfer. You will be limited by the physical size of the disc and the amount of data that can be stored on it. Likewise, you will be limited by the size of the pipe that the server is connected to. To rent a server that approaches “unlimited” will run about $2000 USD per month.
That is a lot for a small business with an inventory of 10 items. Your friend needs to determine how much disc space and bandwidth he realistically needs, multiply by about 4 to allow for growth, and find a host that can provide easy upgrades in case he really does need a grundle of bandwidth and transfer. My guess is that he is grossly overestimating how much disc space and transfer he really needs. I don’t think he needs “unlimited.” I think he needs a lot more than he is actually using so the business has room to grow. Right now, I don’t think he knows how much “a lot more than he is actually using” is.