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.

“We see this as an opportunity to grow our business outside our retail operating hours,” said Ryan Toh, who runs the company with his two cousins, Charmaine Toh and Jill Koh.

“In the retail shop, you are limited by the operating hours that you have,” he added.

While the company’s website is the main source of its e-commerce revenue, it also sells on platforms such as Shopee, Lazada and Amazon.

Besides its own stores, Cathay Photo also manages the official Lazada and Shopee stores of photography brands such as Manfrotto and Peak Design.

Offline to online

The cousins see e-commerce as complementary to the brick-and-mortar business, rather than a replacement for it.

Lower-ticket items such as accessories, which average about S$150 each, are sold online. But high-ticket purchases of S$2,000 to S$3,000 are still typically made in-store, as customers value human interaction and the assurance of a physical shopfront.

“Sometimes we get inquiries online asking: ‘Do you have a physical store? Where can I try and test this?’” said Ryan Toh. “That’s the advantage of a retail store compared to a pure online operator.”

Cathay Photo embarked on e-commerce in 2019 – and the Covid-19 pandemic soon proved the value of that move. When the “circuit breaker” shuttered its store in Peninsula Plaza, the online store kept the business running.

“Having the online store… helped customers to still get what they want,” said Charmaine Toh, one of the company’s directors.

Aside from getting on digital platforms, the company has had to adapt to the shifting preferences of younger photographers, many of whom are content creators focused on making videos and photos for social media, often on smartphone cameras.

Cathay Photo has therefore expanded its product range to include vlogging gear, smartphone accessories and travel gimbals.

“We don’t see smartphone photography users as competition,” said Ryan Toh. “It’s actually a pool of consumers that we can grow for larger sales.”

The company is also meeting its audience where it is, shifting its marketing efforts to social media.

On TikTok and Instagram Reels, Cathay Photo has moved beyond static product posts to content aimed at younger content creators.

“Not just putting up content, but content that makes sense to younger content creators – content they feel they can relate to and learn from,” said Koh, who oversees marketing.

Preserving what matters

Digital ambitions notwithstanding, the cousins remain committed to preserving their grandfather’s values – even when it comes at a cost.

Cathay Photo remains closed on Sundays, a practice started by the late Toh Mun Peng so that staff could spend time with their families. The company also offers a five-day work week, a rarity in the retail industry.

“It could be at the expense of business profitability,” Ryan Toh acknowledged. “But in the long run, you have staff who really appreciate this.”

The transition to the third generation has been gradual. Unlike their parents, who joined the business straight out of school, the cousins were required to work elsewhere for at least three years before coming on board – a rule set by their grandfather.

“He liked to say: ‘Make your mistakes, let other people pay for your mistakes, and then come back’,” Charmaine Toh recalled.

All three joined around 2010 and describe themselves as still being in a “transition stage”, learning from the second generation. But this handover has been more collaborative than the first.

“When grandpa was in charge, all decisions were taken by him,” said Ryan Toh. “Coming down to the second and third generation, there’s more collaborative work together.”

In 2013, members of the second and third generations – Ryan and Charmaine Toh, as well as their aunt and uncle – attended a family business course by the National University of Singapore, which helped them be aligned on the need for a structured succession plan.

This October, the camera retailer was also part of the inaugural batch of 42 businesses under the National Heritage Board’s SG Heritage Business Scheme.

The scheme recognises locally owned businesses with at least 30 years of history that have demonstrated heritage significance and community contributions, and provides marketing and business support.

The cousins hope that it can give further guidance in areas such as operations and transformation.

Challenges ahead

Transformation may prove crucial. Revenue growth has been in the single digits, and the business environment has become far more competitive, said the cousins.

Geographical boundaries have dissolved, with overseas sellers now reaching local customers directly.

Manpower is another concern. Senior staff have decades of product knowledge that customers value, but passing that expertise to younger employees – who may not stay long – is a challenge.

Another perennial issue is rent, though the family has some buffer: they own several of the eight units that they occupy at Peninsula Plaza, where the store has been located since 1978.

This also allows them to set their own operating hours and maintain the Sunday closure.

Asked about expansion plans, the cousins said the priority for now is strengthening operations rather than opening new outlets.

“Our ultimate goal is just to preserve our grandfather’s legacy,” said Charmaine Toh. “Whatever it takes to carry the business on for many more years.”

This is part of a series on companies recognised under the National Heritage Board’s SG Heritage Business Scheme