The case for an online store in Auki
Auki is a place in malaita province, solomon islands, with a population of roughly 6,811, and one of the markets in Solomon Islands where we build online stores.
Malaita provincial capital — a business base that increasingly wants to sell online rather than through calls, messages and spreadsheets.
Commerce in the Solomon Islands is concentrated in Honiara, with demand rising as mobile coverage improves. Order-and-collect models are practical.
Shoppers and trade buyers in Auki already compare options on their phones; an online store that loads fast, shows accurate stock and accepts Visa and Mastercard turns that research into orders.
Local details we build into every Auki project
A store that works in Auki respects local habits as well as local law. These are the details we configure first.
Currency and pricing
The store speaks Solomon Islands dollar: SBD amounts from product page to invoice, so Auki buyers never convert in their heads.
Language and content
Storefront copy, product pages and emails can run in English and Solomon Islands Pijin, with local date and number formats.
Local trust signals
Badges for Visa and Mastercard and bank transfer, Solomon Post delivery and clear return terms reassure first-time buyers in Auki.
Domain, phone and contact
Using .sb where it suits you signals a local business to shoppers and search engines. Contact buttons are pre-set with +677, so a customer in Auki taps once to call or message.
An online store built around your Auki business
Auki businesses tell us what they sell and how they want to sell it; our engineers turn that into a custom online store, an admin system and a mobile app shaped around their operations.
In Auki we typically work with retail brands, D2C start-ups, speciality shops and manufacturers selling direct, and with sellers in categories such as groceries, phones, hardware and fashion that have strong online demand in the Solomon Islands.
Before any commitment you get a free requirements meeting, a demo built on your use case and a proposal priced to your budget.
Features of your online store in Auki
These are the building blocks of an online store. We scope them with you, so you pay for what your Auki operation needs.
Branded storefront
A fast, mobile-first design on your own domain with your colours, typography, banners, landing pages and SEO-ready category structure. Storefront language, imagery and navigation are set up for Auki shoppers and available in English and Solomon Islands Pijin.
Catalogue manager
Categories, brands, variants, bundles, specifications, images, videos and bulk import/export so your team can manage thousands of SKUs. Bulk import and sync tools mean the Auki team never re-keys stock, prices or descriptions by hand.
Checkout and payments
Guest and account checkout, local payment gateways, wallets, bank transfer, cash on delivery, coupons and abandoned-cart recovery. Checkout is configured for Visa and Mastercard, bank transfer and mobile money.
Orders and fulfilment
Order confirmation, packing slips, courier booking, tracking links, cancellations, returns, refunds and customer notifications. Couriers such as Solomon Post, DHL and local delivery plug in alongside your own fleet for Auki orders.
Inventory and locations
Stock by warehouse or store, low-stock alerts, store pickup, local delivery zones and sync with your existing inventory system. Inventory can sit in Auki, in a partner warehouse or across Solomon Islands, with click-and-collect where customers want it.
Growth and reporting
Promotions, loyalty, reviews, email and WhatsApp campaigns, plus dashboards for revenue, products, customers and conversion. Reports show which products, customers and areas of Auki drive revenue.
Businesses that use NNT Mart in Auki
Popular online categories in the Solomon Islands include groceries, phones, hardware, fashion, home and fishing equipment. Malaita provincial capital — which shapes what local businesses need online. In Auki, we most often build online stores for:
Retail brands
Catalogue, pricing and fulfilment rules designed for retail brands in Auki, connected to the systems you already use.
D2C start-ups
D2C start-ups get catalogue manager plus orders and fulfilment workflows tailored to their operations.
Speciality shops
We map how speciality shops sell today and digitise it end to end — from enquiry and order to payment, dispatch and repeat purchase.
Manufacturers selling direct
For manufacturers selling direct, we usually start with inventory and locations, then add ERP and inventory software once orders are flowing.
Grocery and food businesses
Catalogue, pricing and fulfilment rules designed for grocery and food businesses in Auki, connected to the systems you already use.
Multi-outlet retailers
Multi-outlet retailers get growth and reporting plus catalogue manager workflows tailored to their operations.
How Auki customers pay online
Checkout is where most online sales are won or lost. In the Solomon Islands, customers expect to pay with Visa and Mastercard, bank transfer and mobile money, and many also look for cash on delivery.
Provider approval, settlement time and fees differ by business type, so we shortlist gateways with you, then wire up status updates, refunds and reconciliation in SBD — card details stay with the provider.
- Visa and Mastercard
- Mobile money
- Bank transfer
- Cash on delivery
Fulfilment options for Auki orders
Your online store can book shipments and share tracking with Solomon Post, DHL and local delivery, or route orders to your own riders and stores across Auki.
We set up shipping zones, cut-off times, free-shipping thresholds, cash-collection rules and returns so the promise on the product page matches what your team can deliver.
Your own store alongside Facebook Marketplace and local stores
Facebook Marketplace and local stores are where many shoppers in Auki start, which is why sellers list there. The trade-off is commission, limited branding and rules the platform can change overnight.
NNT Mart gives you a channel you own: your domain, your customer list, your pricing and your brand. Where it helps, we connect product feeds and orders from marketplaces so stock stays in sync and your team works from one dashboard.
Compliance built into your online store
On tax: Solomon Islands is moving from goods tax and sales tax to a VAT regime; confirm current rates with the IRD at implementation.
Two frameworks shape the build: general constitutional protections; no dedicated data-protection act yet, and the Consumer Protection Act and price-control regulations.
Our job is the engineering: price display with tax, invoice numbering, cookie and marketing consent, return and terms pages, role-based access and logs. Legal and tax conclusions stay with your own adviser in Solomon Islands.
Android and iOS apps for your Auki business
Phones carry most traffic in the Solomon Islands. A customer shopping app for Android and iOS can share the same catalogue, cart, offers and order history, with push notifications for drops, price alerts and delivery updates.
One backend serves the website and the apps, and the apps ship under your own Google Play and App Store accounts — so what you change once appears everywhere.
Push notifications can be timed to UTC+11 so offers reach Auki customers when they are awake, and the interface can run in English and Solomon Islands Pijin.
- CRM and email marketing
- Courier and shipping aggregators
- Google Analytics 4 and Merchant Center
- Payment gateways and wallets
- WhatsApp Business API
- Accounting and GST/VAT invoicing
- Meta and TikTok catalogues
- ERP and inventory software
Integrations above are examples; we connect any system that offers a suitable API, database access or approved import and export process.
A phased launch plan for Auki
Value first, depth later. For an online store serving Auki, the usual sequence looks like this:
| Phase | What goes live |
|---|---|
| Launch store | Storefront, catalogue, checkout, payments, shipping and admin go live. Configured for SBD, Visa and Mastercard and Solomon Post from the start. |
| Grow | Promotions, loyalty, reviews, marketing integrations and SEO content. |
| Scale | Mobile app, marketplace feeds, multi-warehouse and ERP sync. Reviewed against how Auki customers actually buy. |
Success is measured on conversion rate, average order value, cart abandonment, repeat-purchase rate, page speed (Core Web Vitals) and return rate — tracked on a dashboard you can see from launch day.
Time zones, language and support
Auki runs on UTC+11, which is 5h 30m ahead of India (IST). With three 8-hour shifts we are available 24×7, so meetings, demos and urgent fixes happen in your working hours.
We work in English and can deliver storefront content in English. NDAs are signed on request, and you get a named project lead plus direct access to the engineers building your online store.
Our head office is in Chhapi, Gujarat, with an office in Hyderabad and representation in Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia and Zambia; Auki clients are served remotely with on-site workshops when the project needs them.
