Modernizing the Digital Shopping Experience for Prepaid Customers

Strategic Role of E-Commerce

Metro’s e-commerce experience is critical to acquisition, conversion, and customer flexibility. Historically, Metro customers could not purchase devices or plans online—they were required to visit physical stores. That changed with the MDEC project, which introduced online purchasing for the first time and laid the foundation for a modern shopping experience.

Today, e-commerce is expanding rapidly to include new capabilities like eSIM, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), Home Internet (HSI), and Smartwatch support—making it a key driver of growth and customer satisfaction in a mobile-first prepaid market.

My role & responsibilities

In September 2024, I took over as lead designer for Metro E-Commerce, owning the full web experience. While I contributed to major flows like cart, checkout, and MDEC enablement earlier in my tenure, I now drive strategy, delegate as team capacity allows, and maintain quality across all touchpoints.

My work includes:

  • Overseeing end-to-end UX across shop, plan selection, and activation flows

  • Leading the design system transition from DW3 to Phoenix, starting with the Plans page

  • Maintaining consistency and intent across handoffs and partner teams

  • Mentoring teammates and reviewing delegated work for cohesion and alignment

  • Working across product and engineering to manage trade-offs and keep shipping forward

Challenges

Metro E-Commerce is still on the DW3 platform, which limits flexibility and requires extensive dev collaboration to evolve. The system wasn’t built for online sales—MDEC was the first step toward digital purchases, and every new feature (like eSIM) brings added complexity.

Key challenges include:

  • Legacy tech debt limiting scalable component use

  • Slow ramp-up of design system support, requiring custom design and documentation

  • Prior underinvestment in UX, leaving foundational flows without a strong design baseline

  • Limited team capacity, requiring thoughtful delegation and careful prioritization

Despite these constraints, we’ve unlocked first-time capabilities that are transforming how Metro customers shop and activate online.

My approach

My approach to Metro E-Commerce centers on progressive transformation—pushing the experience forward while managing risk and platform limitations. I lead with:

  • Strategic prioritization of high-impact flows and new capabilities

  • Hands-on systems thinking, particularly during the DW3 → PHX migration

  • Collaboration across disciplines to solve dev constraints and move fast without sacrificing design intent

  • Design documentation and QA support, to ensure clean execution and dev alignment

  • Delegation with context, offering clear direction and feedback to designers when capacity allows

Impact

Since stepping into full ownership of Metro E-Commerce:

  • Online purchases are now possible through MDEC and new cart/checkout experiences

  • We’ve launched flows for eSIM, BYOD, HSI, and smartwatch activations

  • The first Phoenix-based Metro E-Commerce page is in motion (Plans page)

  • We’ve shifted from a store-only model to a hybrid digital-retail ecosystem, increasing convenience for users

  • Design maturity has grown, with consistent patterns, improved communication with dev, and stronger UX presence in product strategy