However, the majority of requests came from Micro and SME sized businesses - many with a similar requirement for what a website should do for them:

	they wanted a site that not only looked good, but also provided functional interactivity for their customers
	it was important that the site owner could easily maintain and manage their own website without the cost of buying additional software, learning new skills or employing a web designer
	the site should also provide secure shopping basket features
	in addition, the site needed to be flexible enough to easily allow business-to-business functionality to be integrated whenever required, new pages or products to be added whenever necessary and provide tools to assist in the promotion of the site

It was also essential that any development should be competitively priced and delivered working and on-time.

With these requirements in mind the development team at IDx Interactive looked to create a package that combined the essential components of a content managed, e-commerce solution together with professional design and branding from our own in-house design team. With the Micro/SME Business in mind it was felt the package shouldn't cost more than £1,500 - a tall order considering typical development costs for this kind of website would have been between £6,000 and £15,000 for a bespoke application!

In April 2000 IDx Interactive released it's e-commerce package - Futurestore. Now in it's 5th year Futurestore has over 250 users including the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, EMAP Publishing, IPC Magazines and the Eden Project in Cornwall.

During the past year Futurestore Technologies, the new company launched to market and develop the package, has concentrated on refining and improving the Content Management features of Futurestore and produce new intranet applications based on these core routines.

In 2005, Futurestore will continue to develop new products to aid the online merchant and provide flexible content management systems that power websites and corporate intranets.