While Australians are not officially banned from leaving their homes, social distancing, business closures and travel restrictions make it difficult to do much away from there.

Thankfully, there are ways to pass the time at home and these are the ASX small caps that can help.

 

1. Dining in

Even in countries with full lockdowns, food companies are allowed to continue because they are deemed an essential service.

This includes New Zealand-based Kiwi seafood plays New Zealand Coastal Seafoods (ASX:NZS), which sells frozen ling maw, and King Salmon Investments (ASX:NZK) which ships salmon.

However, companies will have to forget about distributing to sit-down restaurants whether at home or abroad. Clean Seas Seafood (ASX:CSS) made that painful admission last week but is able to continue shipping through retail channels.

If you’re able to leave your home but are just unwilling there are two stocks involved in food delivery. One is Marley Spoon (ASX:MMM), which sells packages of ingredients that you can whip into a meal.

Another is Dragontail Systems (ASX:DTS), which runs software that covers the entire food preparation and delivery process.

 

2. Staying connected with family

If you want to keep in touch with your family there’s a handful of small caps that help families stay in touch. Tinybeans (ASX:TNY) will help you keep up to date with the goings on of your young nieces, nephews and cousins. Tinybeans developed a free family album app that lets people share moments with family. Meanwhile, Life360 (ASX:360) can help you keep track of your family members through its location-based app.

For those longing for love, there’s online matchmaker Love Group (ASX:LVE). But you will have to get creative with dating in these social distancing times.

 

3. Shopping (online)

With retailers having to shut up shop they have no choice but to sell online — although in New Zealand they can’t even do that.

For the moment retailers like outdoor and camping store Kathmandu (ASX:KMD) and homewares-focused Adairs (ASX:ADH) are still doing online sales.

One company that’s borne the brunt of the shift online more than most, department store Myer (ASX:MYR) has also shut its stores but can still deliver products straight to your door.

 

4. Playing games

You could just watch Netflix, or you could be more active and get involved in the e-sports sector. This sector is bracing itself for a flurry of new users over the next few weeks.

One of these companies is iCandy Interactive (ASX:ICI), which has a library of over 300 games.

Yesterday Stockhead spoke with chairman Kin Wai Lau, who confirmed the broader industry is bracing itself for an influx of isolated consumers looking for something interesting to pass the time.

 

5. Tech enablers

Of course nothing online is possible without physical and cloud infrastructure.

This includes data centres, of which there are a couple of small caps building them including 5GN Networks (ASX:5GN) and DXN (ASX:DXN).

Also handy to have around at the moment are IT service providers including Citadel Group (ASX:CGL) and Megaport (ASX:MP1).

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