Cathay Photo bets on e-commerce to keep 66-year-old family business clicking

[SINGAPORE] When Toh Mun Peng set up Cathay Photo in 1959, he served film enthusiasts from two counters in a shared shophouse space near the historic Cathay building.

Today, his grandchildren serve TikTok creators through e-commerce, taking Singapore’s oldest camera retailer into the digital age while preserving its founding values.

E-commerce currently makes up less than 10 per cent of Cathay Photo’s revenue, but this segment is growing by about 20 per cent each year – a trajectory that the family is betting on to future-proof the business.