Retail Stores Will Completely Die, Says Tech Investor Marc Andreessen

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Marc Andreessen, the creator of Netscape and a partner of Andreessen Horowitz, isn't afraid to speak his mind.

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Andreessen, who is invested in Pinterest, Foursquare and Business Insider, recently discussed the future of commerce with PandoDaily's Sarah Lacy.

He told her traditional retail stores will die off, and e-commerce stores will be the only way we shop in the future.

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We've already seen this happen in some categories. Netflix put Blockbuster out of business, Circuit City died out, and physical travel agencies are scarce.

Of course, there's one problem: e-commerce doesn't work when you need a last minute item.

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Here's his stance:

"Retail guys are going to go out of business and ecommerce will become the place everyone buys. You are not going to have a choice. We’re still pre-death of retail, and we’re already seeing a huge wave of growth. The best in class are going to get better and better. We view this as a long term opportunity.

"...Retail chains are a fundamentally implausible economic structure if there’s a viable alternative. You combine the fixed cost of real estate with inventory, and it puts every retailer in a highly leveraged position. Few can survive a decline of 20 to 30 percent in revenues. It just doesn’t make any sense for all this stuff to sit on shelves. There is fundamentally a better model.

"...I’d bet on the pure plays in ecommerce. Software eats retail.”