I believe the cloud mining platform is more profitable than normal miner, it cost lesser long run(lesser electricity cost), more profitable(online is 24 hours, hence more profit), no long wait no prouder, no need to bear with heat or noise(i have a egg heater in my room), and less stress to miner(no need keep monitoring to prevent downtime).
Overall I think cloud mining will be the future, but the key point is to go with a reputable company, especially need to avoid scam companies out there... I myself has start shifting my funds to a new cloud mining service Zeushash(cloud mining service from Zeusminer), and the trans id is all traceable. I believe it is one of the reputable company out there.
I agree with you that unless you have very cheap electricity, ample space and low custom duties cloud-mining seems to be the logical solution. But you have to make your own due diligence before you select a company to work with. I do think that Zeus is maybe the best company in scrypt mining at the moment (not bitcoin though, I think) with a proven track record and their Zeushash service works really great! They are transparent and have restored the confidence in scrypt mining after all the recent failures (Alpha, Finobbacci, Flowertech, etc.)