Did you read my post?  I explain every detail in the post.

To be fair, they do sell online....

I did, but could you add more? Do you have sources, numbers .. ?

His argument is that in an all-digital future, stores won't be willing to sell hardware because the big money is in software, which they won't get a cut of.  In general, he's not wrong. Hardware margins are low in most computing instances, not just video games.  So his theory is plausible.

There are two primary ways around this.  First, S, N and M would have to offer up their hardware at lower prices to allow for a satisfactory margin.  Probably not terribly likely.  The second way is one we're already seeing - You can buy digital download cards for games at both Amazon and Best Buy, and likely other retailers.  And if customer adoption of such a practice could be encouraged (i.e.: perhaps by offering a small discount on a game card bought in store vs. the console maker's online store), then this is something companies like Walmart and Amazon would absolutely love, because it drops storage and shipping costs to practically nil.

Here is an article I found about how much profit a store can make on hardware and software.
https://nintendosoup.com/much-money-video-game-store-make/

Basically profit margins on hardware are 2% - 5%.
Profit margins on new software are 25% - 35%.

For a big retailer, new software is obviously where the money is at.  Now I have been told that these margins on new games aren't even enough for a specialty store like Gamestop to be successful.  But the margins on used games are more like 40% - 80%.

So any way that you slice it, the money is in the software.  The hardware is just there to get people to come to your store to buy the games.  If you take away the software, then hardware prices would have to increase, so that the stores could sell the hardware at a decent profit.  

They could, but the question was is there was any hope for physical game outlets. That refers to Walmart, Best Buy, Target, GameStop, etc.