With the holiday season often accounting for one-third of a retailer’s annual sales, competition can be fierce. Tempting as it is to grab for every advantage, this can have the unpleasant consequence of legal entanglements with the Federal Trade Commission or a state attorney general that are expensive to resolve and can bring reputational damage at a critical time of year. Retailers can protect themselves by focusing on three key areas where regulators look for potential violations this time of year: advertising disclosures, compliance with laws on continuity plans and bogus discount prices.