If you think ugly sneakers are the latest trend, you’ve never heard of marko. Thanks to this fast-growing Swiss online marketplace, second-hand is now in fashion. How does co-founder Alexander Sutter make sustainability the first choice? By constantly innovating. And with Swiss Post right by his side.
“It all started with an Aromat seasoning shaker”, says Alexander Sutter, co-founder of marko.
Why Aromat of all things? Good question. “We were at home and wanted to test out the process for listing an item. There was an Aromat shaker on the table”, explains Alexander. Today, he recalls with a smile how this test with a spice mix has evolved into one of the fastest-growing second-hand platforms in Switzerland. For marko, a tin of Aromat marks the beginning of a story that continues to this day.
Even easier from home
“Many people don’t have a printer at home anymore. It doesn’t help if you simply send them a PDF label to print out”, says Alexander when asked how Easy Shipping came about. Easy Shipping was developed jointly by marko and Swiss Post, allowing sellers to send their second-hand items to buyers with ease, even without a printer. Even without a printer.
How does it work? Once the purchase is complete, marko works with Swiss Post to create a shipping label as well as a special tag that is sent to the seller by post rather than as a PDF.
This is attached to the parcel and sticks out clearly from the mailbox. The mail carrier can see immediately on delivery that a parcel’s ready for collection, pick it up and take it directly to the buyer.
This makes it easy to turn your own mailbox into a collection point, removing a big hurdle to second-hand sales.
“But there was still another major hurdle to second-hand selling: OK, I need to take photos and list my items”, says Alexander. “That also takes time.”
So marko and Swiss Post put their heads together again. In a co-creation process, they developed ideas together, tested solutions and processes, and ultimately put them into practice.
This is how, after Easy Shipping, EasySell was born. With EasySell, marko lists items on behalf of its sellers. Sellers get an EasySell shipping bag by post, fill it with the items of clothing they want to sell and send it to the marko warehouse. There, the marko team checks the clothes, photographs them and advertises them on the platform.
“This means there’s no need for sellers to list their items themselves”, says Alexander. It’s another hurdle in the sale of second-hand items that marko and Swiss Post have overcome together.
If you’re prepared to try something new, you need partners who are too. marko’s found exactly that with Swiss Post. “Swiss Post’s very open to innovation”, says Alexander. “It has small teams that focus on specific topics. This means you can act very quickly within an organization of this size, which sends several hundred thousand parcels every day.”
With Swiss Post’s help, EasySell went from idea to implementation in just four months “The biggest challenge was the EasySell shipping bags”, says Alexander. “How big should the bag be? What materials did it need to be made from for logistics purposes?” marko and Swiss Post tested different models together until they found the right solution.
Besides openness and agility, a shared commitment to sustainability was also crucial for marko when choosing the right shipping partner. Swiss Post pursues its own climate and sustainability goals and is working to gradually reduce emissions in operations and logistics.
Second-hand shopping also raises the question of consumption. “One criticism we often hear is: ‘Second-hand isn’t sustainable either if it means you shop even more.’” So for marko, it’s important that the entire process is as CO₂-neutral as possible.
“It helps that Swiss Post shares our commitment to sustainability.”marko consignments are integrated into Swiss Post’s existing logistics system. Both Easy Shipping and EasySell use Swiss Post’s existing delivery processes. This means no extra journeys are needed. As Alexander puts it, there’s no need “ for an extra three-and-a-half-tonne vehicle to drive into the neighbourhood”.
From Aromat to Nike
Sometimes it's in the most ordinary moments that Alexander realizes just how much the two co-founders have set in motion. “When I’m at the Migros checkout wearing my marko cap and people say, ‘Hey, are you on marko too?’” Those are the really cool moments.”
The figures show it too, with 400,000 users registered with marko since its launch in 2023. Today, its weekly consignment volume is as high as its annual volume was when it started out.
“I think that, outside marko itself, Swiss Post has made one of the biggest contributions to our success,not least through its openness to developing new logistics solutions,” says Alexander.
The two millionth listing has just gone live: a pair of vintage Nike shorts.
Between that tin of Aromat and Nike lie two million listings, 400,000 users and a partnership with Swiss Post that continues to grow alongside marko, providing plenty of good reasons to choose second-hand.
