No Amazon? No problem: How a remote island community built its own online shopping service - Rest of World

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Photography by Suliane Favennec for Rest of World

By Tiare Tuuhia

29 March 2022 • Fa’a’ā, French Polynesia

After a morning spearfishing in the lagoon, 20-year-old fisherman Turoa Faura rode home on his red tricycle, carrying his young nephew in the rusty basket affixed to the back. On the patio of his aunt’s house, he shared photos on his phone of his fishing exploits: bright blue parrotfish, yellow-lip emperors, silvery trevallies, and a cooler full of tiny, rose-colored eina‘a — a seasonal delicacy.

Faura is tall and well-built, with bleached blond highlights in his black hair. When Rest of World met him in December 2021, he wore a white T-shirt featuring a large black Adidas logo, which he had recently purchased online using his smartphone.

Shopping online and getting the T-shirt delivered to the island where he lives was a new experience for Faura. “I began ordering online this year,” he told Rest of World. “At the start of the year, I still didn’t know that I could order online myself.” He’s also used online shopping to buy fishing gear and sports equipment.

Faura lives in Manihi, a remote coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is one of 118 atolls and islands that make up French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France that has its own government and is considered semi-autonomous. The islands are scattered over more than 2,500,000 square kilometers of ocean — an area about five times as large as the French mainland.

From the air, Manihi looks ephemeral: a tiny ring of sand that might be washed away at any moment, surrounded by endless shades of blue. The atoll, itself made up of many small islands arranged around a lagoon, is just 27 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide, with its highest point 9 meters above sea level. It has a population of less than 1,000, with most inhabitants, including Faura, living in the main village of Turipaoa. Life here can be difficult. Well-paying jobs are few and far between, and residents are reliant on cargo ships from Tahiti, French Polynesia’s largest island, to bring necessities.

The luxury of online shopping and home delivery, considered indispensable by many in the West, has long been out of reach for remote islanders like Faura. There’s no Amazon same-day delivery or Alibaba shipping to Manihi, and Turipaoa has only three small shops, which mostly sell food and essentials. There are no restaurants, hardware stores, or clothing shops that sell sought-after brands like Adidas.

Until recently, huge distances, a scattered population, and lack of internet access have made e-commerce unviable in French Polynesia. In the last few years, however, a nascent courier scene has taken off, making it possible for islanders to access an ocean of e-commerce products that were previously unavailable. As the global online shopping market continues to grow — a trend that has been augmented by the Covid-19 pandemic — local services are closing the last gaps for those living in some of the world’s most remote places.

20-year-old fisherman Turoa Faura lives in Manihi, a remote coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

20-year-old fisherman Turoa Faura lives in Manihi, a remote coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

He recently began shopping online, as local couriers started making e-commerce accessible to French Polynesia’s islands over the last few years.

He recently began shopping online, as local couriers started making e-commerce accessible to French Polynesia’s islands over the last few years.

“I began ordering online this year,” Faura told Rest of World. “At the start of the year, I still didn’t know that I could order online myself.”

“I began ordering online this year,” Faura told Rest of World. “At the start of the year, I still didn’t know that I could order online myself.”

In 2017, Moanatea Henriou was 26 years old and in his sixth year of working as a riot policeman in France. The pay was great, and life was comfortable, but there was something missing. He yearned to be with his children and his family. He craved the warm climes and jagged mountain peaks of his fenua, his island home — Tahiti.

And so, in January 2018, Henriou moved back to Tahiti, ready to start his life again from scratch. When his brother suggested he start a small business delivering goods to people on the islands, he went for it. He borrowed some money to buy a cheap motorized scooter, started a Facebook business page, and called his company HM Coursier Express – “HM” for his initials, and “coursier” meaning “courier” in French.

On the HM Coursier Express Facebook page, customers can access a list of services and prices, receive updates on special offers, and leave reviews. Facebook was a natural choice for Henriou to reach his market: it is the leading social network in French Polynesia, with 74% of the population on the...