Just the main problem with chemical is weight. The weight comes from water. Plus I believe the drums are worth more then the actual additive that makes the chemical. Like purchasing a fountain drink.
There are additional cost don't get me wrong.... Actual mixing, hiring staff, holding of the chemicals and storage cost. Plus the reseller does have to purchase the finish product, sell, store and ship the product and shipping is the most expensive cost.
Lets just use kr wheel cleaners msdn sheet..... which btw has to be provided.
http://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/files/d8570524-3f12-4782-a1f5-485e1f21f78d.pdf
The actual amounts of the ingredients are a trade secret.... but 7-20% of every gallon is the actual product that makes the chemical. So lets say water weighs 8.3 pounds for a gallon. If they use 7%..... the product weights 0.581 pounds and the water weights 7.719#. Or if they use 20%..... the product weights 1.66# and 6.64# of water. So a 55 gallon drum would be 424# - 365# of just shipping water.
I forgot the name but there was/is a company that sold 1/2 or 1 gallon hyper concentrates that you just added water to a 5 gallon drum? (They gave out free samples.... if that helps?) Also the chemical companies can match each others chemicals and I eat dinner with one company that basically did that. I'm not picking on kr they are reselling a product. But it is shipping mostly water around. Or either I am completely wrong..... won't be the first or last time!
But I have also got hyper concentrates from chemical companies that are more concentrated then the 7-20% then you would dilute it 40-80 to 1.... so I don't know? But I am not anywhere close to a chemist! I only skimmed a book a long time ago.