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Trade report
Still 4.9 after 1,000 reviews: phone shops 85%, restaurants under 10% (Malaysia, September 2026)
In HiGo's listings, more than 85% of dental clinics, phone shops and medical clinics with at least 1,000 reviews are still rated 4.9 or better. Not a single hypermarket or supermarket with that many reviews makes it.
At Sunway Pyramid, the mall itself is rated 4.5. Nando's inside is on 4.4, Dragon-i on 4.6. And the Xiaomi store in the same building? A 5.0, from 11,685 reviews.
As of 14 September 2026, HiGo's listings held 482,074 merchants in Malaysia. Of those, 5,040 have at least 1,000 reviews, and 1,205 of them are still rated 4.9 or better.
187,001 shops are rated 4.9 or better. Only 1,205 have 1,000 reviews behind them
A 4.9 is nothing unusual in HiGo's listings: 187,001 merchants are rated 4.9 or better, 38.8% of all 482,074 — close to two in five. But 172,251 of them (92.1%) have fewer than 50 reviews, and at that size a few new reviews can move the score either way.
Shops with at least 1,000 reviews are scarce to begin with: 5,040, about 1% of the listings. Their scores rest on a thousand-plus people, not a handful of regulars.
Of those 5,040, 1,205 (23.9%) are still at 4.9 or better — fewer than one in four. A flat 5.0 goes to 422 (8.4%). Put another way, only about one in every 155 shops rated 4.9 or better has 1,000 reviews behind it.
Dentists, phone shops, clinics: more than 85% keep their 4.9
Twenty-six categories have at least 40 merchants with 1,000-plus reviews. Ranked by the share still at 4.9 or better, the top three are:
- Dental clinics: 45 of 51, 88.2%
- Phone shops: 41 of 48, 85.4%
- Medical clinics: 58 of 68, 85.3%
Brand stores and chains crowd this list. Of those 41 phone shops, 27 are Xiaomi, OPPO, HONOR, Samsung or vivo brand stores, or chains such as Switch and Machines. All 8 stores with Xiaomi in the name and 1,000-plus reviews are at 4.9 or better. Electrical shops tell the same story: of the 37 stores with Senheng or senQ in the name and at least 1,000 reviews, 34 are at 4.9 or better.
Hypermarkets, supermarkets, attractions: 221 with 1,000-plus reviews, none at 4.9
At the other end are the places everyone passes through. Among merchants with at least 1,000 reviews there are 82 hypermarkets, 66 supermarkets and 73 tourist attractions, and not one of them is rated 4.9 or better. Shopping centres: 1 of 118. Hotels: 3 of 241 (1.2%). Places listed simply as "restaurant": 44 of 485 (9.1%).
The numbers don't explain why. One plausible guess: at a dentist or a phone counter, someone looks after you one-to-one, and you can leave a review the moment you're done. Supermarkets, malls and attractions get crowds coming and going, and people in all sorts of moods. But that's a guess: the data only shows the two things turning up together, not that one causes the other.
By industry: most beauty and medical places keep a 4.9; most places to eat, play or stay don't
Of the nine industries, beauty and health, clinics and medical, and everyday services all clear six in ten. Food and dining manages 9.9%, third from bottom.
Food and dining is the biggest group among merchants with 1,000-plus reviews: 2,251 of them, or 44.7% of the 5,040. Among the 1,205 still at 4.9 or better, its share falls to 18.4% (222).
By state: Selangor and KL have the most, but Johor has the highest share
Selangor (1,461) and Kuala Lumpur (1,102) have the most merchants with 1,000-plus reviews: between the two, more than half the total. Neither leads on the share at 4.9 or better, though. Of the 11 states and federal territories with at least 100 such merchants, Johor comes out on top: 171 of 554 (30.9%). Selangor is third at 25.9%, Kuala Lumpur seventh at 22.1%, and Sabah last at 13.8%.
What this means for you
- Picking a phone shop, dentist or clinic: more than 85% of the ones with 1,000-plus reviews are rated 4.9 or better. In these trades a 4.9 is the norm, so the score won't separate them. Read what the reviews actually say.
- Picking a restaurant or hotel: a 4.9 on 1,000-plus reviews is rare here — 222 of 2,251 in food and dining, 3 of 241 hotels. When you find one, the score carries more weight.
- See a 4.9? Check the review count first: 92.1% of the shops rated 4.9 or better in HiGo's listings have fewer than 50 reviews.
- Shops can ask customers for reviews. A high score with a lot of reviews behind it doesn't mean every one was written unprompted.
Places nearby
All four have at least 1,000 reviews and a rating of 4.9 or better, and each is in a different state:
Ratings and review counts come from Google's public data, as recorded by HiGo on 4 September 2026. They are not a HiGo ranking or recommendation.
Data: HiGo merchant listings, queried on 14 September 2026. Ratings and review counts are public Google data (observed 2–4 September), not scores given by HiGo; "1,000-plus reviews" means at least 1,000. The counts cover every merchant on record, including those marked permanently closed (22 of the 1,205). The listing count is not the total number of merchants in Malaysia. HiGo sorts merchants into categories and industries based on the category they're listed under; each shop goes in one group only.
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