François DELTOUR wins the EDHEC Entrepreneur of the Year Price with Effinity

François Deltour is a pioneer of the web! In 2000, when he founded Effinity (formerly Effiliation), e-commerce was still an unruly business! Everything remained to be done. Thanks to François, Effinity quickly became a key player in the affiliation business in France, with a network of 45,000 partners. This was an area relatively unfamiliar to the wider public albeit essential to brand strategy with a view to attracting new customers online. Since then Effinity has diversified its business and is now among the primary levers that online sellers must use to secure new customers and ensure the continuing loyalty of existing ones.

François explains: “we are working in an area in perpetual movement and we must constantly adapt to the changes taking place, whether in terms of technology or the changing habits of Internet users. You might say that in such circumstances our role is to spin webs so that online traders can catch customers!”

Effinity is keenly aware of consumer trends and in 2015 launched a platform dedicated to the world of influence, linking brands to some 4,000 influencers (bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, etc.).

In 2016, two new companies are being created within the group: Selldorado, a service dedicated to increasing the revenue of small online traders, and Effilocal, a web-to-store solution enabling traders, artisans and store networks to increase their local visibility online and attract new customers to their physical stores.

Effinity has also successfully exported and now has a presence in Europe and Brazil. It has a staff of 70, revenue of €20 M and more than 600 clients, including commercial business like PriceMinister, Ventes Privées  , Walmart and Boulange,  but also the Gendarmerie Nationale and Real Madrid. Based on a robust business model, Effinity has always expanded using its own capital and has never had to rely on external investors.

In the 1990s, François Deltour was already behind Palo Alto, one of the first French web agencies. He served as class delegate and was actively involved in Club Retail.

And in the Deltour family, EDHEC is (practically) hereditary: his daughter Gabrièle is currently completing her studies at the School.

Discover all the photos of the Edhec Rendez-Vous Paris on June, 2 at La Gaîté Lyrique here !