Fashion magazines are now selling the goods they cover in e-commerce sites and could potentially become competitors to retail stores like Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York.

"There are no boundaries anymore," Howard Socol, a former chief executive officer at Barneys, told The New York Times.

"There's competition for everything. But it is kind of interesting if you are a store, because you're advertising in a magazine that is competing with you."

Magazines like GQ are now selling Calvin Klein turtlenecks at the GQ store and the Vogue is telling its readers to head to its website to get the latest designer dress from Diane von Frustenberg and Derek Lam. With the publishing business competing against online competition is it any wonder magazines are looking for any way to earn more revenue and attract more readers?

"What magazines have always done is to create desire in consumers. The next logical step is to fulfill that desire by selling the product. If we don't do it, somebody else is going to," said David Granger, editor in chief at Esquire.

"The biggest reason is that magazines don't want to get left behind," he said.

While adding online shopping to the reading experience helps glossies stay afloat it might also affect their objectivity. Editors might push readers to buy items that aren't high-quality but could generate sales.

Retailers are also keeping track of these developing sales sites. With retail already taking a bruising from the economic recession adding more competition in the mix, especially in the form of magazines where the retailers frequently advertise in, could push consumers out of the stores. Online stores also allow consumers to buy the pieces that retailers would never put on their shelves.

"The consumer becomes the buyer," said Aslaug Magnusdottir a contributing editor at Vogue who has her own online venture, Moda Operandi. "They are no longer dependent on a traditional retailer to make their selections for them."

Fashion magazines entry into retail could raise eyebrows in the industry but as the glossies struggle to stay afloat can we really blame them?