Tempe receives Google eCity award for Arizona

From left: Councilmember Corey Woods, Mayor Mark Mitchell, Councilmember Joel Navarro, Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema and Councilmember Kolby Granville.

Google announced last week that Tempe has been named the 2014 eCity of Arizona. The eCity Awards recognize the strongest online business community in each state – the digital capitals of America. These cities’ businesses are embracing the web to find new customers, connect with existing clients and fuel their local economies.

“Tempe is a city that loves technology,” said Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell as he accepted the award on behalf of the city’s small businesses. “This recognition is about how our businesses use technology to improve their bottom lines and customer experiences. The people in Tempe – whether visitors or residents – expect fast, efficient and friendly online experiences.”

Mitchell was joined by Arizona Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema at Brand X T-Shirts, a Mill Avenue custom T-shirt shop that shows how effectively local businesses can embrace the power of the web to grow and thrive.

“Our e-City Awards recognize the new ‘digital capitals’ of America,” said Angie Welling, public policy and government affairs manager for Google. “We want to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit of Tempe — and the role that it plays in both creating jobs and sustaining local economies. With 97 percent of Internet users looking for products and services online, it’s clear that success is about being connected.”

Google worked with an independent research firm IPSOS to analyze the online strength of local small businesses in cities in all fifty states and the Google and Tempe is among the ranks of America’s leading cities in the digital economy.

Arizona businesses already know that Americans are turning to the Internet to look for local goods and services. Businesses need to be where their customers are, and in 2014, that’s online. Yet, more than half of all U.S. small businesses do not have a website.

“Given the critical role that technology plays in driving growth and creating jobs, we need to make sure that every business is embracing the web,” Mayor Mitchell said.

During the next three years, businesses that make use of the web are expected to grow 40 percent faster and are twice as likely to create jobs. With small businesses creating two-thirds of all new jobs, the potential impact of getting these businesses online is enormous. Google hopes that these “digital capitals” will become an inspiration to other areas — throughout the nation — of what can be accomplished by spearheading business development on the Web.