Is social commerce worth it for a small store?

Worth it for discovery, dangerous as a foundation. It is the cheapest way to be found and the customer belongs to the platform, not to you.

Why the answer is what it is

Use it to gather and move people somewhere you own. A store whose entire audience lives on one platform has a business with somebody else’s hand on the tap, and the terms change without notice.

What this looks like in practice

A platform that owns the customer relationship can change the rules whenever it likes, and has. Selling only on somebody else’s platform is renting your business.

The follower count almost never matches the sales. Engagement in the comments is a far better signal than reach.

Short-form video is the cheapest reach available right now, which is exactly why it will not stay cheap.

Where a mobile app comes into it

The point of an app in this picture is ownership: social brings somebody once, and the app is where they come back to.