The loss will cost Scotland world rankings points and likely push them outside the top six when the World Cup draw is made in December. The setback will dent hopes of receiving a favourable draw at the pool stages.
Taking on Fiji in their own back yard was never going to be an easy but Scotland poor discipline made a big contribution to the loss with Ewan Ashman binned and Darcy Graham sent off for receiving two yellow cards.
Tries from Kyle Rowe and Tom Jordan was all the Scots had to show for their efforts.
Scotland captain Rory Darge says the side will have to put in a "much better" performance than what they showed in Fiji for next weekend's Test match against Samoa.
"We were all really looking forward to playing Fiji," Darge said.
"It's a unique experience. It's the first time for a lot of us playing here. We knew the challenge we were going into and what a quality side Fiji are.
"But I'm sure there'll be a lot of things in the review that we can control and do much better."
Kyle Steyn says Scotland "didn't get the basics" right in Suva.
"It's gutting," he reflected. "We let ourselves down there. There was so much good work in it, good hustle and working for each other, but you can't come to Test rugby and make that amount of basic errors.
"We knew on transition they were going to be dangerous. Credit to them, in front of their home fans, they did exactly that. But we spoke before, against these guys you've got to get the basics of the game right, and we didn't do that.
"We came on this tour wanting three out of three and to take that back to our fans is really gutting. It's all on next week. We've got six days to turn around and tear into Samoa."