"We're a small independent ebook retailer"

How does that work? Independent in a physical sense, generally translates to 1 or very few outlets. Online is only ever going to be 1 outlet. Plus none of the independent bookstore features seem amenable to translating to the internet.

So is it ownership structure? 'vibe'?

> "We're a small independent ebook retailer"

> How does that work?

Small: They're not operating at Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, Amazon, or any other major book retailer level. Measuring by revenue seems reasonable in this sense. Pick arbitrary numbers to define small/medium/large.

Independent: They're not affiliated with any one single publisher.

Yes, I possess a dictionary too :P

Independent suggests more than just being independent, and very little of that seems to be compatible with being an internet company (local, passionate knowledgeable owner, community hub).

I think I may have been wrong regarding independent. Given the context of the thread, it sounds more like platform-independent, rather than publisher-independent. The previous comments are about platform-specific stores.

Do you think I'm reading too much into the word then?

If some one told me about a small independent record store, or small independent coffee shop, I would have certain expectations.

Platform independent seems reasonable given the context though.

I don't understand the question. All online shops have one outlet. That doesn't mean the distinction between small and large doesn't exist anymore.

I was picking up on the independent aspect, not the size aspect, although independent bookshops don't tend to be national chains.

Independent in this context includes many different things, most of which I'm not sure are particularly relevant to an online business.

You don't get a knowledgeable enthusiastic shop owner to talk to, it isn't a gathering space, it doesn't keep money in the local community.

So I'm asking what independent actually means in an online context.