£50,000 for a custom app vs £250,000 for a canned one.

Recently, a UK manufacturer in the market for an online shopping cart went to their packaged software vendor for what they hoped would be a "plug and play" solution. It certainly seemed like that would make the most sense. But, they found that with software, implementation, and training they would be spending £250,000, or around $440,000 US.

This staggering cost had them looking for alternative options. And, what they found was even more surprising. They could (and did) create a customized shopping cart like this one in much less time, for much less money.

The total price tag for all of their needs? £50,000. Just 1/5 the cost quoted for the canned solution.