“Give ‘em the razor, sell ‘em the blades,” a quote attributed to King Camp Gillette of the Gillette razor company, is perhaps the best known example of a strategy driven by revenue through the sale of consumables. But there are numerous other examples from inkjet printers, to mobile phones, to coffee K-Cups.
While this is a legitimate strategy, it is most profitable when the company supplying the consumable can remain the sole source provider. When that is the case, prices and profit margin can be kept artificially high and the end user has no choice but to keep coming back for more.