Luxury car retailer HR Owen will be launching an ecommerce initiative which will see it selling lifestyle accessories associated with its franchises like Ferrari and Aston Martin.

Chris Harris, HR Owen marketing director, told Marketing Week the new online shop was a “toe in the water” which could lead to the group expanding the items for sale into car parts.

The new website will go live to customers this month and HR Owen will be using its cloud-based Salesforce marketing programme to make its customer database aware of the new venture.

HR Owen will also be launching its own free luxury lifestyle magazine on iTunes next year for customers and non-customers to help raise awareness about the dealer group.

Harris said the magazine would need to generate approximately 500 leads from the potential readership of 20,000  for the magazine to create value for HR Owen.

Read AM's interview with HR Owen chief executive Joe Doyle.